Insurance company told to pay Rs9.5L due

Our Correspondent

Hoshiarpur, October 13

The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum here has directed United India Insurance Company Limited (UIICL) to make a payment of Rs 9,50,000 (insured amount) to complainant Gurmit Singh.

It also directed the company to pay Rs 10,000 as compensation on account of harassment and mental agony and Rs 5,000 as litigation expenses for delaying the claim.

Gurmit Singh of Mohalla Vijay Nagar here had filed a complaint against the insurance company under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.The case was decided by forum president Charanjit Singh and member Raj Singh.

The complainant had got his Swaraj Mazda bus got insured with UIICL from June 9, 2016, to June 8, 2017, through its agent and a policy was also issued. In January 2017, when the driver of the complainant was going to the residence of the latter in the bus, it caught fire due to a short-circuit.

The driver could not save the vehicle from burning and it was badly damaged. The information regarding the accidental fire was given to the insurance company and the agent through whom the complainant got his vehicle insured. The firm also sent a surveyor to the spot. Information was also given to the police and a copy of the DDR was also given to UIICL.

When the complainant submitted the Rs 9.5-lakh claim of the vehicle, then all requisite documents, including the driving licences of Nitin Kumar and the driver, were submitted. But the claim of the complainant was withheld by the firm. The complainant went from pillar to post to get his claim for which he was legally entitled, but UIICL was not paying the claim to him.

In a reply to the complainant, UIICL filed a written statement to contest the complaint, saying that the claim of the former was pending for want of verification of MV documents.

The forum directed UIICL, “to make the payment of Rs 9,50,000 to the complainant within one month from the date of receipt of copy of this order, subject to furnishing the letter of subrogation, power of attorney for transfer of registration certificate of the vehicle. The complainant has also been harassed by the opposite party, as such the complainant is entitled to Rs 10,000 as compensation on account of harassment and mental agony and Rs 5,000 as litigation expenses. The compliance of the order must be made within one month from the date of the receipt of the copy of the order, failing which the complainant is entitled to get interest at the rate of 9 per cent per annum, on the awarded amount, from the date of filing of the complaint till its realisation.