Insurer firm asked to pay Rs10 lakh to deceased’s kin

Manmeet Singh Gill

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, August 6

The consumer forum has directed an insurance company to pay Rs 10 lakh to Brightway Constructions, an employee of which had died last year in a mishap at a construction site. The employee was insured but the firm had refused to pay. Besides, the construction company has been asked that the money, after being received, should be paid to the legal heirs of the deceased.

The Brightway Constructions was engaged by the Punjab Tourism Promotion Board for the renovation of historic Gobindgarh Fort in the city. Its employee Jethu Ram died in a mishap on April 23, 2016. The firm, in its complaint filed against the United India Insurance Company, stated that the insurance cover was valid from June 16, 2015 to June 15, 2016. When the claim was filed, the insurer repudiated it claiming that the policy did not cover risk.

The opposite party, in its reply, stated that an officer of the company inadvertently mentioned “death to employee of the contractor and other people/public” in the column of ‘personal injury or death’. It further stated that in the same cover note in special-condition column, it was mentioned that this cover note was as per the policy terms and conditions. The reply stated that terms and conditions were dispatched to the policy holder on October 16, 2015.

The forum observed that the opposite party couldn’t escape from its liability to pay the claim on the ground that the concerned officer inadvertently issued the policy to the complainant. The forum also stated that the complainant had denied having received any terms and conditions document and the opposite party had failed to rebut the claim as it had not produced on record any postal receipt regarding the dispatch of the policy as well as terms and conditions to the complainant.

While directing the company to pay the claim of Rs 10 lakh, it has also instructed it to pay Rs 3,000 as compensation for harassment and Rs 2,000 as litigation expenses.