Pay compensation, interest, forum tells insurance firm

Nitish Sharma

Tribune News Service

Ambala, September 19

The district Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has held Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company Limited guilty of deficiency in service. It has directed the insurance company to pay insurance claim to the dependants of Jagdish Singh, who had purchased insurance policy from the company.

Jagdish met with an accident on November 8, 2013, and was referred to the GMCH, Sector 32, Chandigarh, where he died on November 20. He had purchased an insurance policy for Rs 5 lakh.

The legal heirs of the deceased had approached the company for release of the amount of insurance, but it refused to accede to their request.

The company contested the claim and said there was no deficiency in service on its part. As per the report of the GMCH authorities, Jagdish died due to cardiac arrest.

According to the company, the claimants were not entitled to any compensation on account of death of insured as the risk of heart attack was not covered. It said the complainants had not submitted the postmortem report to the company for processing the claim.

The counsel for the company argued that the victim had died of cardiac arrest and not due to injuries sustained in the accident. The complainants were not entitled to any claim as it was not an accidental death, argued the counsel.

According to the forum, this plea was not tenable as the accident resulted in injuries and chest pain, which ultimately resulted in death.

Forum president DN Arora said, “Jagdish died due to heart attack, but the main cause leading to it was injuries caused due to the accident. The accident was the basis for chest pain and heart attack. Therefore, the company has wrongly and illegally repudiated the claim.”

The order said since the death was accidental, the claimants were entitled to 100 per cent of the sum assured, which was Rs 5 lakh, along with 9 per cent interest per annum from the date of filing of complaint till realisation. As per the policy, minor children were entitled to education children bonus.