Chandigarh: Insurance firm told to pay Rs5L claim to vehicle owner

Tribune News Service

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Chandigarh, February 7

Terming the rejection of claim of a damaged vehicle on the grounds that the driver of the vehicle was having a fake driving licence illegal and unjustified, the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Chandigarh, has directed an insurance company to pay a claim of Rs5,30,698 to the owner of the vehicle. The commission also directed the company to pay Rs11,000 as litigation expenses.

Deepak Bansal, a resident of Panchkula, approached the commission after the company refused to pay the claim.

In the complaint, he said his vehicle, Mixer Truck, was insured with United India Insurance Company Limited for the period from August 23, 2019 to August 22, 2020. The vehicle met with an accident on September 29, 2019. Subsequently, the vehicle was taken to a service station - Tata Motors - for repairs. The insurance company was also informed about the accident. Investigator appointed by the company submitted its report on August 8, 2020.

The report mentioned that the driving licence of the driver was fake. On the basis of the report, the company rejected the claim. He spent Rs6,41,373 on the repair of the vehicle.

Deepak said he had hired the driver after seeing his driving abilities and looking at the driving licence produced by him.

The company justified the decision of rejecting the claim on the ground that the driving licence was fake.

After hearing the arguments, the commission, comprising of president Rajan Dewan and members Priti Malhotra and BM Sharma, relying on the judgment of the Supreme Court in the Nirmala Kothari v/s United India Insurance Company Limited case, termed the decision of the company repudiating the genuine claim of the complainant illegal, unjustified and gross deficiency in service.

“While hiring a driver, the employer is expected to verify if the driver has a driving licence. If the driver produces a licence, which on the face of it looks genuine, the employer is not expected to further investigate into the authenticity of the licence unless there is a cause to believe otherwise. If the employer finds the driver to be competent to drive the vehicle and has satisfied himself that the driver has a driving licence, there would be no breach of Section 149(2)(a)(ii). It will be unreasonable to place such a high onus on the insured to make enquiries with RTOs all over the country to ascertain the veracity of the driving licence,” said the commission.

“However, if the insurance company was able to prove that the owner/insured was aware or had noticed that the licence was fake or invalid and still permitted the person to drive, the company would no longer continue to be liable for claim,” says the commission while quoting the Apex Court judgment.

The commission directed the company to pay a sum of Rs5,30,698 to the complainant, along with interest @7 per cent per annum, from the date of repudiation. The company was also directed to pay Rs11,000 as litigation expenses.

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