Punjab

Faridkot

CC/17/388

Gurdev Raj Sharma - Complainant(s)

Versus

United India Insurance Company Ltd. - Opp.Party(s)

Anoopinder Singh Sekhon

11 Dec 2018

ORDER

 DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM, FARIDKOT

 

 

Complaint No. :      388 of 2017

Date of Institution:   6.12.2017

Date of Decision :   11.12.2018

 

Gurdev Raj Sharma aged about 42 years, son of Jaswant Sharma, r/o Street No. 3/R, Dogar Basti, Faridkot Tehsil and District Faridkot.

...Complainant

Versus

1. United India Insurance Company Ltd. through its Divisional Manager, 6-7, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Market,  Post Office No. 48, G T Road, Moga-142001.
2. Micro Office, United India Insurance Company Ltd. Opposite Sainik Rest House, Talwandi Chowk, Faridkot, Tehsil and District Faridkot.151203.

.....OPs

Complaint under Section 12 of the

Consumer Protection Act, 1986.

 

 

Quorum: Sh. Ajit Aggarwal, President.

               Smt. Param Pal Kaur, Member.

              

Present: Sh  A S Sekhon, Ld Counsel for complainant,

              Sh Ashok Monga, Ld Counsel for OPs,

 

 (Ajit Aggarwal, President)

                                                        Present order is going to dispose off the complaint filed by complainant alongwith application dated 21.08.2018 filed by ld counsel for complainant for seeking directions to

cc no.388 of 2017

OPs to reconsider the claim of complainant after reopening the same on submission of documents by the complainant.

                         Complainant has filed the present complaint under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 against OPs seeking directions to OPs to make payment of insurance claim and for further directing OPs to pay Rs.2,00,000/- as compensation for harassment, inconvenience, mental agony besides litigation expenses of Rs.20,000/-.

2                               Briefly stated, the case of the complainant is that complainant owns vehicle Maruti Alto bearing registration no. PB-47-C-4567 which was fully insured with OPs vide Private Car Policy No. 2012823114 P109597420 valid for the period from 6.07.2015 to 5.07.2016. On 22.06.2015, car of complainant fell into a ditch near bridge of Sutlej after striking with a stray animal and got damaged. Complainant duly reported the matter to OPs and then vide letter no.337, OPs directed complainant to produce the vehicle in question for re-inspection with all salvage and final bill of repair. Ops again issued letter no.44 dated 29.06.2016 for same purpose and in compliance thereof, complainant produced the said car for re-inspection alongwith salvage and bill of repair to Surveyor K K Kapoor and Company and on letter dated 10.08.2016 of OPs, complainant furnished all the requisite documents to them including bill and other required salvage etc and thereafter, no correspondence occurred between complainant and OPs. Complainant visited the OPs and made several requests to clear his over

cc no.388 of 2017

due insurance claim but they kept lingering on the matter on one pretext or the other. It is further submitted that Surveyor, who came to inspect the vehicle at premises of Pankaj Motors, Moga, gave report that car is not repairable and is total loss and on asking of OPs, complainant send them photographs of damaged car and bills etc. Complainant submitted all the documents to OPs twice but all in vain. Thereafter, Kapoor & Company gave verdict that car is repairable and complainant got repaired the same from Garison Motors, purchased parts from Bhagwati Motors and chasis from Sonu Motors and produced duly repaired car for re-inspection to OPs and also submitted 38 photographs of all kinds, but till date OPs paid no heed to clear his genuine insurance claim. All this amounts to deficiency in service and caused harassment and mental agony to complainant. he has prayed for accepting the present complaint alongwith compensation and litigation expenses besides main relief. Hence, the present complaint.

3                              The counsel for complainant was heard with regard to admission of the complaint and vide order dated 12.12.2017, complaint was admitted and notice was ordered to be issued to the opposite party.

4                                    On receipt of the notice, OPs filed written statement taking preliminary objections that complaint is without any cause of action and there is no deficiency in service on the part of OPs. It is averred that on intimation from complainant, Ops immediately

cc no.388 of 2017

appointed Surveyor Rajat Kumar of Moga who made spot survey and submitted his report dt 6.07.2015. After that complainant shifted his car to Pankaj Motors and then M/s Kapoor and Company were appointed Surveyor to inspect the car on 3.07.2015. Car was inspected at premises of Pankaj Motors, Moga, where complainant became adamant to treat his car as total loss, but it was not so and condition of total loss was not justified. Said Independent Surveyor also found the estimate to be very exaggerated as compared to actual loss. He advised complainant to get repaired his car, but complainant was not interested in repair of his car and therefore, he did not get repaired his car and also failed to submitted any bill. Surveyor assessed the loss to the tune of Rs.48,793.76  and after  scrutiny  and due application of mind and keeping in view the terms and conditions of the policy, claim of complainant was filed as ‘No Claim’ and intimation regarding this was sent to him. It is further averred that complainant failed to submit bills regarding repair and replacement of part of damaged car and despite repeated reminders, complainant did not produce any document with Ops for processing the claim. It is further averred that there is no deficiency in service on the part of Ops and prayed for dismissal of complaint with costs. At this stage, the complaint filed an application for issuing directions to OPs for reconsideration of his insurance claim after reopening the same on submission of required documents by the complainant.

5                                  In reply to application dated 21.08.2018, ld counsel for OPs submitted that claim of complainant was closed due to

cc no.388 of 2017

non submission of documents by complainant and he has no right to resubmit the documents and to get the claim reprocessed and reopen the case.

6                                         Ld counsel for complainant as well as Ops advanced arguments. Heard. Consideration made. It is admitted case of parties, that insured car of complainant fell into a ditch and got damaged. It is also admitted by Ops in their written reply that they were duly intimated by complainant regarding said accident. Main contention of complainant is that despite submission of all documents, Ops have no passed his insurance claim on account of damage of his insured car. On the contrary, plea taken by Ops is that complainant did not get repaired his car and failed to produce requisite documents alongwith bills for repair of car in question to them and despite repeated reminders, complainant himself did not furnish documents and bills required for processing the claim in question. We are of considered opinion that complainant is required to produce bills for repair of car in question alongwith requisite documents with OPs and OPs are required to redress the grievance of complainant and they should process and clear the insurance claim of complainant without any delay. Hence, present complaint is hereby disposed off with direction to complainant to furnish bills for repair of car, for newly purchased parts and other relevant documents related with processing of claim to OPs within one month of receipt of the copy of this order and OPs are directed to settle the claim of complainant within 45 days of receipt of documents produced by

cc no.388 of 2017

complainant. If complainant does not feel satisfied with the decision of OPs, then, in that case, he is at liberty to file fresh complaint on same cause of action. Copy of order be given to parties free of cost. File be consigned to record room.

Announced in Open Forum

Dated : 11.12.2018

 

(Param Pal Kaur)           (Ajit Aggarwal)

                                      Member                         President