Sri S.K.Sahoo,President.
Hemant Kumar Pati the complainant has filed a petition U/s. 12 of C.P.Act, 1986, alleging deficiency in service by the opp.parties and claimed for compensation along with other reliefs.
2. The case of the complainant is that the complainant is the registered owner of a TATA ACE bearing Registration No. OD-05Y-2911 . It was purchased by the complainant to earn his livelihood. One Sipun Parida was appointed as a driver of the aforesaid vehicle. It was insured under the opp.parties vide policy bearing No. TAQ1015241 which was valid from 13.01.2018 to midnight of 12.01.2019 . The complainant had paid the premium of Rs.24,043.00 . While the vehicle of the complainant was parked near a Dhaba on the road which runs towards Basulei on 30.03.2018 at 1 P.M it was caught fire due to short circuit in the engine. Due to sudden fire the vehicle was completely damaged and the local people extinguished the fire . The said fact was reported to the IIC, Parjang P.S on 31.03.2018 , who registered S.D.E No. 14. The complainant registered his complaint before the opp.parties on 08.04.2018 which was registered as complaint No. 74197450073. After receipt of such complaint, the opp.parties conducted an inquiry but till filing of the case no compensation was paid to the complainant. The complainant is a consumer, who has paid the premium to the opp.parties. By not paying the damage /compensation , there is deficiency in service on the part of the opp.parties.
3. Notice was issued to opp.party No.1 through this office, who personally received the same on 25.04.2018. Notice to opp.party No.2 was issued through registered post with A.D which was served on him and the A.D is available in the case record.
4. Opp.party No.1 has filed his written statement through Sr. Divisional manager, Cuttack Division office II. The case of the opp.party No.1 is that there is no cause of action to file this complaint against the opp.parties. The complainant is not consumer at all. The complainant has submitted intimation letter before the insurance office on 30.03.2018, which was duly filled-up and signed by Sipun Parida the driver of the vehicle which met with the accident. On 02.04.2018 the complainant submitted his claim form signed by him , in which he has described the brief particulars of the accident as follows :-
“My driver parked the vehicle and went to have lunch. When he came back he saw that the vehicle had moved by itself and dashed to a road side iron pillar”.
Annexure- B is the said claim form filed by the complainant, where as Annexure- A is the intimation letter dtd.30.03.2018 submitted by the driver Sipun Parida. The aforesaid driver has no valid driving licence to drive a transport vehicle on the public road on the date of accident. Hence the complainant is not entitled to any claim. Annexure- C the certified copy of the driving licence of Sipun Parida. The complainant has submitted an estimate of Rs.31,580.00 for repairing of his vehicle which is not supported with valid documents. Engineer Ashok Kumar Behera was appointed as surveyor , who conducted the survey and submitted his report vide Annexure-D. Again the opp.party No.2 engaged an independent surveyor Sri S.K.Mohapatra who conducted the final survey and submitted his report . By verifying the relevant documents and going through the terms and conditions of the insurance policy Mr. Mohapatra assessed the loss to be Rs.13,300.00 . As per the survey report, final survey report and claim form no loss has been caused to the vehicle due to fire accident. Inspite of repeated direction , the complainant failed to supply the required documents to the surveyor of the opp.parties. The complainant is not entitled to any relief at all.
5. Inspite of notice served on opp.party No.2, he did not appear before this Forum/Commission to contest the case.
6. Admittedly the complainant is the registered owner of the TATA ACE bearing Regd. No. OD-05-Y -2911 which was insured under the opp.parties vide policy No. TAQ1015241 which was valid from 13.1.2018 to midnight of 12.01.2019. The complainant has filed the photo copy of the registration certificate particulars issued by the Registering Authority, Cuttack. The complainant has also filed the photo copy of the insurance policy which shows that the vehicle of the complainant was insured under the opp.parties and the insurance was valid from 13.01.2018 12 A.M to 12.01.2019 12mid night. In his complaint petition at paragraph-4 the complainant has mentioned that while his vehicle was parked near a Dhaba on the road on 30.03.2018 at 1 P.M , the vehicle caught fire due to short circuit in the engine , for which the vehicle was damaged. From paragraph- 5 it is also clear that while the vehicle was on fire, the local people extinguished the fire. The complainant has filed the photo copy of the S.D.Entry of Parajang P.S dtd. 31.03.2018 . On perusal of the said extract copy of S.D.Entry, it transpires that on 31.03.2018 at about 1P.M while the driver of the complainant had been to take his lunch by parking the vehicle on the side of the road, all of a sudden the vehicle was caught fire due to short circuits and the local people extinguished the fire. The S.D.E number is 14 dtd. 31.03.2018.
7. The opp.party No.1 in his show cause at paragraph- 6 has mentioned that the driver Sipun Parida had no valid driving licence to drive a transport vehicle on the date of the accident. The photo copy of the extract of driving licence has been filed by the opp.party No.2 . On perusal of the said copy of D.L of Sipun Parida it transpires that he had no valid licence to drive transport vehicle on the date of alleged accident. The photo copy of the of the claim intimation letter signed by driver Sipun Parida has been field by the opp.party No.1. On perusal of the said claim intimation letter, it is clear that at paragraph-10, the driver has clearly mentioned that he had parked the vehicle on the road and had been to take his lunch and while taking lunch he found the vehicle went away from the road and dashed against an iron pillar. The photo copy of the of the claim form filed by the complainant before the opp.parties is also filed by opp.party No.1. On perusal of the same it is clear that the said form has been signed by the complainant, in which the complainant has mentioned that his driver had parked the vehicle and went to take his lunch and when he came back he saw the vehicle moved by itself and dashed against a road side iron pillar. The description of the complaint petition regarding the circumstances of the accident is totally different from the claim intimation letter and claim form filed by the complainant. The S.D.Entry made by the police at Parjanga P.S is quite different from the circumstances of the accident mentioned in the claim intimation letter and the claim form . The contains of the claim petition regarding accident is not supported by the complainant himself. The claim of the complainant appears to be not reliable at all. When in the initial stage the complainant has stated that the vehicle has been damaged due to fire, in the later stage he has stated damage is caused due to dashing of the vehicle against the iron pillar.
8. It appears that there is no cause of action to file the case by the complainant. However Sipun Parida the driver has no valid driving licence to drive a transport vehicle on the date of accident, for which the complainant tried to built-up a case on false facts. He has not come to this Forum/Commission in clean hand. For the aforesaid reason the complainant is not entitled to any relief/reliefs.
9. Hence order :-
: O R D E R :
The case be and the same is dismissed on contest against opp.party No.1 and exparte against opp.party No.2.
