RAIPUR: Pointing out a deficiency in services, Chhattisgarh Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has directed The Oriental Insurance Company Limited, Mumbai to pay Rs 25 lakh insurance cover to a complainant, along with six% interest from the day the complainant emailed for settlement of claim.
The consumer commission said that the insurance company will pay the complainant Rs 25 lakh against the accidental death benefit under the policy. The above amount should be payable along with interest of six% per annum from August 23, 2016, the date when the complainant sent an email for settlement of the claim. This interest amount should also take care of the compensation for financial and mental agony suffered by the complainant.
The insurance company should pay the complainant the cost of this litigation, which is quantified as Rs 5000. The above entire amount should be paid within a period of one month from the date of order, failing which the above all amount should be payable with interest at nine% per annum from the date of this order, pronounced Consumer Commission president Justice Gautam Chouradiya and Member Ruchi Goel.
As the applicant, in this case, was Anand Kumar Mishra, a resident of Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh, the insurance company initially tried to escape from paying the claim amount on the ground the applicant was not a direct beneficiary.
The applicant had moved the Consumer Commission against the Insurance Company, Raigarh’s Mahindra Auto Centre and Mahindra & Mahindra Company, Mumbai.
The applicant told the Consumer Commission that he had bought a Mahindra Scorpio vehicle from the Raigarh-based auto centre in 2016. The vehicle manufacturing company was running a scheme called Top Gear Club Member under which the consumers were being given an insurance cover of Rs 25 lakh along with the consumer's spouse and children in case of accidental death. The auto company had a tie-up with the insurance company under the scheme.
The vehicle met with an accident within four months from the purchase on May 23, 2016 in which the applicant Anand’s father Suresh Kumar Mishra, who was the owner of the vehicle, died on the spot. The applicant put in a claim seeking insurance cover amount and submitted all desired documents. The applicant had sent an e-mail to the insurance company on August 23, 2016 urging for early disposal of the claim, but the insurance company did not respond. Anand moved the consumer commission urging for justice.
The insurance company told the consumer commission that the applicant was not its consumer as he did not buy the vehicle. The applicant is not a direct beneficiary in the case. The insurance company also claimed in the consumer commission that it had not received any insurance claim and the owner was not driving the vehicle at the time of the accident. The consumer commission, however, found the documents submitted by the applicants genuine and gave its verdict in favour of the applicant.
