BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES

REDRESSAL FORUM, JALANDHAR.

Complaint No.160 of 2017

Date of Instt. 22.05.2017

Date of Decision: 10.06.2019

Lizwant Masih aged years s/o Sh. Harbhajan Masih, R/o VPO Lidhran Tehsil & District Jalandhar.

..........Complainant

Versus

1. The New India Assurance Co. Ltd., 16, Patel Chowk, Jalandhar City. Through its Branch Manager/ Manager.

2. The New India Assurance Co. Ltd, MF Road, Fort, Mumbai, through its Divisional Manager.

….….. Opposite Parties

Complaint Under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act.

Before: Sh. Karnail Singh (President)

Smt. Jyotsna (Member)

Present: Sh. Prince Tayal, Adv Counsel for the Complainant.

Sh. A.K. Arora, Adv Counsel for OPs No.1 & 2.

Order

Karnail Singh (President)

1. This complaint has been filed by the complainant, wherein alleged that the complainant is owner of Truck bearing registration No. PB-08-BU-9927 make Ashok Leyland 2516 and the said truck was got insured from the office of OP No.1 at Jalandhar which is the branch office of OP No.2, vide insurance policy No. 36100131150100001758 with the period of cover from 10/6/2015 till 19/6/2016 in the sum of Rs. 12,00,000/-.

2. That on 2/5/2016, the complainant was going in the said truck which was loaded with Railway Wheels and was coming from Pune and was going to Kapurthala and when he had reached at Gram Jalikhera P.S. RGT Rayli Nadi Nagar District Badmer, Rajasthan then at about 1 AM, the truck of the complainant got fire and ultimately all the goods and truck were burnt along with all the documents and goods and in this connection, due information was given to the police of PS RGT Rayli Nadi Nagar District Badmer, Rajasthan and formal FIR/DDR was also recorded by the Police and due intimation of this incident was also given to the officials of the OPs and from time to time all the demanded documents were also supplied to the OPs which included the copy of entry in toll plaza of Naya Nagar wherein the truck of the complainant have been shown to cross the said Toll at 00:55:12 on 2/5/2016. Till date, the OPs have not finalized the claim of the complainant as the damage of the vehicle of the complainant is total damage i.e. 100%.

3. That the complainant is a poor person and was earning his livelihood by plying the said truck. Since the said truck is total loss and even till date, the OPs have not finalized the amount of claim of the complainant though about one year has elapsed since the date of accident. As per the wishes of the officials of the OPs, the burnt vehicle/ total damaged truck of the complainant was made to stand at M/s Rajesh Motors Agencies Pvt. Ltd, Jodhpur. The complainant had to make the payment of Rs. 25,000/- to the said agency as advance demurrage charges. It was fully in the knowledge of the officials of the OPs that the complainant had to make the payment of Rs. 350/- daily as demurrage charges for the first 90 days and thereafter the demurrage charges would be increased Rs. 1000/- per day. The OPs deliberately did not finalized the claim of the complainant till date and the complainant being poor person is not in a position to make the huge payment of demurrage charges of the said company. Then the complainant served a legal notice dated 16/12/2016 to the OPs but all in vain and as such, necessity arose to file the present complaint with the prayer that the complaint of the complainant may be accepted and OPs be directed to pay an amount of Rs. 12,00,000/- as IDB of the vehicle alongwith interest @ 18% per annum from the date of accident till its actual realization and further OPs be directed to pay compensation to the complainant on account of mental agony to the tune of Rs.5,00,000/- and litigation expenses of Rs.50,000/-.

4. Notice of the complaint was given to the OPs and accordingly, both the OPs appeared through its counsel and filed joint written reply, whereby contested the complaint by taking preliminary objections that there is no deficiency of service or unfair trade practices on the part of OPs and that being so the present complaint is not maintainable. It is further aware that the claim of the complainant has already been approved by the competent authority for Rs. 11,98,500/- on total loss and letter dated 9/3/2017 to this effect has been written to the complainant asking for cancellation of the RC of the vehicle in question, depositing of salvage in the office of the company, no objection certificate from the financier of the vehicle and cancelled cheque for making of payment directly to the account of the complainant. On the receipt of information qua the loss caused to the vehicle, the OP had appointed surveyor Sh. Raj Kumar Pitti who assessed the loss and submitted his survey report dated 3/6/2016 and on the basis of said report, the claim of the complainant has been approved by the OP but inspite of making compliance of letter dated 9/3/2017, the complainant has filed the instant complaint and as such, there is no deficiency in service on the part of the OP rather complaint filed by the complainant is premature, therefore, the same is liable to be dismissed. On merits, the factum in regard to ownership of the vehicle of the truck as well as incidence of the truck and getting of the insurance of the said truck are admitted by the OP but other allegations in the complaint are categorically denied and lastly submitted that the complaint of the complainant is without merits and the same may be dismissed.

5. In order to prove the case of the complainant, the counsel for the complainant tendered into evidence affidavit Ex.CA alongwith some documents Ex.C-1 to Ex. C22 and further tendered into evidence additional affidavit of complainant Ex. CB and then closed the evidence.

6. Similarly, counsel for the OP tendered into evidence affidavits Ex.OA & Ex. OB alongwith some documents Ex.O1 to Ex.O5 and then closed the evidence.

7. We bestowed our thoughtful consideration to the submissions made by learned counsel for the respective parties and also gone through the case file very minutely.

8. There is no dispute between the parties that the complainant was owner of the truck bearing registration No. PB-08-BU-9927 and the said truck was got insured from OP for the period 10/6/2015 to 9/6/2016 for the total insurance of Rs. 12,00,000/- and it is also not in dispute that the truck was all of sudden got fire and report regarding that was made by the complainant to Police of PS RGT Rayli Nadi Nagar District Badmer, Rajasthan and copy of the DDR is available on the file as Ex. C3 and RC of the truck is Ex. C2 and insurance policy is Ex. C1. After that the complainant submitted insurance claim/ intimation Ex. C7. Apart from that, complainant also submitted report Ex. C13 for making payment of parking charges of M/s Rajesh Motors Agencies Pvt. Ltd, jodhpur.

9. The allegations of the complainant are only that despite giving timely intimation regarding incidence of the truck to OPs, the insurance claim of the complainant has yet not been settled by the OPs and as such, there is deficiency in service and unfair trade practice on the part of the OP for not settling the insurance claim of the complainant for more than one year from the date of incident i.e. 2/5/2016.

10. On the other hand, the version of the complainant is not controverted by the OPs rather the OPs admitted all the facts and submitted that the insurance claim of the complainant as assessed by the surveyor vide its report Ex. O2 have been approved by the OPs for an amount of Rs. 11,98,500/- and in order to make the payment of said claim amount a letter Ex. O3 dated 9/3/2017 was sent to the complainant for making compliance of the same but despite complying the said letter, the complainant had filed the instant complaint which is just to harass the OP and as such, the complaint of the complainant is not maintainable because there is no deficiency or unfair trade practice on the part of OP, therefore, the same may be dismissed.

11. We have sympathetically considered the plea taken by both the parties and admittedly the total IDV of the truck is Rs. 12,00,000/- and the repairing amount of the said truck was assessed by the surveyor in its report Ex. O2 i.e. Ex. 17,58,043.88/- and accordingly it is established that there is a total loss of the truck and as such, the complainant is entitled for IDV of the insured truck i.e. Rs. 12,00,000/- but after getting deduct therefrom policy clause of Rs. 1500/- i.e. Rs. 11,98,500/-. The said amount has been approved by the OP as alleged in the written statement but surprisingly the report had been submitted by the surveyor on 3/6/2016 and thereafter the OP has taken much time to approve the said insurance claim i.e. upto 9/3/2017, shows that there is a negligence, deficiency and unfair trade practice on the part of the OP for delaying the insured amount for such a long time without any reason and rhym and as such, OPs are liable to pay interest thereon as well as compensation to the complainant.

12. In the light of above detailed discussion, the complaint of the complainant is partly accepted and OPs are directed to pay the accessed amount of Rs. 11,98,500/- to the complainant with interest @ 12% from the date of filing the instant complaint i.e. 22/5/2017 till realization and further OPs are directed to pay compensation to the complainant for causing mental tension and harassment to the tune of Rs. 75,000/- and litigation expenses of Rs. 25,000/-. The entire compliance be made within one month from the date of receipt of the copy of order. This complaint could not be decided within stipulated time frame due to rush of work.

13. Copies of the order be supplied to the parties free of cost, as per Rules. File be indexed and consigned to the record room.

Dated Jyotsna Karnail Singh

10.06.2019 Member President