Insurance firm told to pay Rs 8 lakh compensation

Our Correspondent

Hoshiarpur, August 13

The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, here, has directed United India Insurance Company Limited to pay compensation to the complainants to the tune of Rs 8,00,000 with interest at the rate of 12 per cent per annum till realisation and litigation expenses of Rs 10,000 in a case of death due to reported leakage in a domestic LPG cylinder.

Forum’s president Karnail Singh and member Harvimal Dogra decided the case.

A complaint in this regard was filed by Parkash Singh, his son Manjeet Singh and the latter’s children — Gurwinderjit Singh and Parabjot Singh (sons) and Kirandeep Kaur (daughter), all residents of Odhra village in Dasuya against HP Gas, Mumbai; distributor Dasuya Gas Service, Dasuya; and United India Insurance Company Limited.

Parkash had said in the complaint that he was living with his wife, son, daughter-in-law, and grand children. On June 12, 2015, Kawalpreet Kaur, the daughter-in-law of Parkash, changed the LPG cylinder. After around 30 minutes when she went to the kitchen and switched on the gas, the cylinder exploded due to which her clothes caught fire and she fell on the floor.

Parkash helped her extinguish the fire and took her to a hospital. The complainants had alleged that the accident occurred due to the supply of a defective cylinder. They had alleged that the refilled LPG cylinder supplied to the consumer was defective, which resulted in the accident and death of Kawalpreet. Her statement was also recorded under Section 164, CrPC, by Amardeep Singh, JMIC, Jalandhar, on June 13, 2015, and accordingly, a DDR was also filed on the same day. However, she died on June 18, 2015. The complainants had demanded compensation as the mishap occurred due to the deficiency in services provided by the opposite parties.

Meanwhile, the distributor and the gas company stated that the complainant failed to report the matter to them due to which the spot inspection could not be done. When the matter came to their notice after receiving summons from the district consumer forum, a detailed investigation was conducted. The investigation report indicated that the possible cause of accident was negligence in using the cylinder and, as such, they were not liable to pay the compensation. As per investigation report, the cylinder was manufactured in 2012 and the date for the next testing was in 2022. Hence, there was no question of supply of a defective cylinder.

However, the gas company in its reply said it had insured all its registered domestic LPG consumers and submitted that a number of times they requested to the complainants to provide a written intimation of the mishap along with the claim by a duly authorised person to proceed for the settlement of the case with the insurance company. But they complainants never cooperated with them.

The insurance company said as the claim of the complainants had been repudiated by them prior to the filing of the present complaint vide a letter, dated July 24, 2017, there is no deficiency of service on their part.

Listening to the arguments of the counsels from both sides, the forum held both distributor and the company liable for supplying the defective cylinder. It decided that the husband and the children of the deceased were entitled to get the compensation whereas her father-in-law was not entitled for the same.

The order

The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed the insurance firm to pay Rs 8 lakh compensation to the complainants with interest at the rate of 12 per cent per annum from the date of repudiation of the claim till realisation and to pay the litigation expenses of Rs 10,000. The compliance of the order should be made within 30 days from the date of receipt of the copy of the order.