BEFORE THE PRESIDENT, DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION, SAMBALPUR
C.C NO-53/2013
Present-Sri Dipak Kumar Mahapatra, President, Smt. Smita Tripathy,Member (W).
Swarna Kanti Sahu,
At/P.O- Rengalbeda,Dist-Deogarh,
At present residing near Check Gate,
JSG Road, Ainthapali, Sambalpur-4. …..Complainant
Vrs.
The Manager
IFFCO TOKIO General Insurance Company Ltd,
1st & 2nd Floor,MIG 22 BDA Colony,
Jayadev Vihar, Bhubaneswar-751013. ………O.Ps
For the Complainant:-Sri S.C. Sahoo Advocate & Associates.
- For the O.P-1 :- Sri B.K. Purohit, Advocate & Associates.
DATE OF HEARING : 03.03.2021, DATE OF ORDER : 12.04.2021
SRI DIPAK KUMAR MAHAPATRA,PRESIDENT:-Brief facts of the case is that the Complainant is the registered owner of a Bolero bearing registration no-OR-05-AU-1912 having Engine No-GHCAC22862 and Chassis No-C2C68825 insured with the O.P i.e Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Ltd. vide policy no-OG-12-24121801- 00000627. The Insurance was valid from dtd. 22.03.2012 to 21.03.2013. The Complainant on dtd 26.02.2013 in afternoon hours while proceeding towards Rajgangpur for some domestic assignments with her driver and halted thereon. At night she advised her driver to return back with the vehicle to Sambalpur. The above said vehicle met with an accident on dtd.26/27. 02.2013 at about 1.30 am while it was coming from Rajgangpur to Sambalpur driven by her driver sitting alone in the said bolero. To attend natures call the driver stopped the Bolero nearby Kedia Petrol Pump Sundargarh meanwhile one unknown Ten Wheeler Truck dashed the Bolero and fled away from the spot. Due to the accident the Bolero capsized on the road side causing a lot of damage and rear wheel of the said Bolero were detached from its body. No person was injured due to the incident. Being informed by the by the driver the owner has immediately filed a station diary at Sundargarh Police station vide SDE No-468 dtd.27.02.2013. The Complainant registered a OD Claim before the O.P and in response to the claim the O.P sent a letter dt. 27.03.2013 vide No- OC-13-2403-1801-00002716. The Insurance Company did not bother to settle the claim and no amount was released in spite of having a valid policy. The Complainant got the damaged vehicle repaired from one Badei Motor Garage,N.H-6,Ainthapali,Sambalpur to repair the same and the Complainant has paid Rs.2,02,974/-from his own pocket. Hence the O.P is purely negligent in providing necessary services to the Complainant hence the Complaint petition.
As per the O.P the Complainant had got the vehicle registered as a Commercial Vehicle but the insured suppressing the material fact obtained a Private Car Package Policy from the O.P. During the currency of the policy the said vehicle met with an accident and the Complainant had informed the incident on dtd. 27.02.2013 . The Complainant claims Rs.2,02,000/- towards repairing of vehicle but the IRDA Licensed Surveyor and Loss Assessor calculated and assessed the loss at Rs.95,000/-. Again it is submitted that whatever the amount of expenses incurred by the Insured towards repairing of the vehicle the insurance company is not liable to pay the claim to that extent but restricted to certain liabilities towards depreciation and policy terms and conditions. Further it is observed that on the date of accident the vehicle was not carrying a valid permit in breach of policy conditions and as per section 66 of M.V.Act. The claim was repudiated and communicated to the Complainant on dtd.27.03.2013. Hence the Complainant is not entitled get any relief, so the petition deserves to be dismissed.
As the case is a “YEAR OLD CASE”, this Commission has rightly decided to dispose the case on merit basis.
POINTS OF DETERMINATION:-
- Whether the Complainant is comes under the purview of Consumer Protection Act-2019?
- Whether the O.Ps has committed any Deficiency in Service to the Complainant?
From the above discussion and materials available on records we inferred that the Complainant comes under the purview of Consumers as he has got his Bolero Insured with the O.P on payment of Premium/Consideration. It is seen that the Complainant has insured the Bolero on dtd. 22.03.2012 with the O.P which was valid till midnight of 21.03.2013 under Private Car Package Policy on payment of premium amount of Rs.3,325/-. Thereafter he got the said Bolero registered on dtd. 24.03.2012 with RTO Sambalpur. As the Complainant first got the vehicle insured with the O.P and thereafter he got it registered with the concerned authority hence the suppression of material to the O.P does not arise. The Complainant has submitted all the bills relating to the repair of the Bolero for settlement of claim. Hence she incurred an expenditure of Rs.2,02,000/-from her own pocket to make the Bolero roadworthy. The claim was repudiated by the Insurer on the ground of no valid route permit at the time of the said accident which was the breach of the Policy condition. We have already referred to the Station Diary at Sundargarh Police station vide SDE No-468 dtd.27.02.2013 which unequivocally reveals that the accident was caused due to the fault of the driver of an unknown truck coming from the front side of the Bolero and dashed against the Complainant’s vehicle when the Bolero was standing on the road side in an idle condition and the driver was attending the natures call and that a case had been registered under various sections of the IPC against the truck driver who was absconding. Significantly, no fault whatsoever was found with the driver of the insured vehicle. There is no material before us that would dissuade us from accepting the Station diary entry in toto and the damage caused to the Complainant's vehicle. In the case of Amlendu Sahu Vs. Oriental Insurance Co.Ltd., (2010) 4 SCC 536 case, Hon’ble Supreme Court has decided that “ it has been held that in a case of violation of condition of the policy as to the nature of use of the vehicle, the claim ought to be settled on a non-standard basis.” From a perusal of the aforesaid guidelines it is clear that one of the cases where 75% claim of the admissible claim was settled was where condition of policy including limitation as to use was breached. So the O.P has committed deficiency in service as well as Unfair Trade Practice to the Complainant by repudiating the claim arbitrarily. Hence we order as under:-
ORDER
That the Complaint petition is allowed. The O.P is directed to settle the claim of the Complainant on Non- Standard basis and disburse the settled amount against the damaged vehicle. Further the O.P is directed to pay an amount of Rs.10,000/-(Rupees Ten Thousand) by way of compensation to the Complainant for causing him mental, physical and financial loss and agony and Rs. 5,000/-(Rupees Five Thousand) as litigation costs. This amount shall be paid by the OPs to the Complainant within a period of one month from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order, failing which the OPs shall pay interest @ 9% per annum on this amount from the date of filing the complaint, i.e., 01.07.2013 till its realisation."
Order pronounced in the open Court today i.e, on 12th of April 2021 under my hand and seal of this Commission.
Office is directed to supply copies of the Order to the parties free of costs receiving acknowledgement of the delivery thereof.
I agree,
-Sd/- -Sd/-
MEMBER(W) PRESIDENT
Dictated and Corrected
by me.
-Sd/-
PRESIDENT
SRI DIPAK KUMAR MAHAPATRA,PRESIDENT:- Certified that the typographical error in the entire Cause Title page has been corrected by the Own motion of this Commission U/S-152 of Civil Procedure Code-1908 and new page shall be read as-
Swarna Kanti Sahu,
W/O- Late Kishore Kumar Sahu,
At-Putibandh(NSCB College Road)
PO/PS-Dhanupali,
Dist-Sambalpur(Odisha). …..Complainant
Vrs.
The Manager
Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company Ltd,
“One Janpath” 3rd Floor, 2c, Janpath, Shriya Square,
Kharavel nagar, Unit-3, Bhubaneswar-751001. ………O.Ps
Office is directed to supply corrected copy of this order to the parties.
-Sd/-
PRESIDENT
