Punjab

Faridkot

CC/15/121

Shinder Pal Kaur - Complainant(s)

Versus

The New India Assurance co. Ltd - Opp.Party(s)

Satish Kumar Jain

31 Jan 2017

ORDER

      DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM, FARIDKOT

 

Complaint No. :      121

Date of Institution: 03.09.2015

Date of Decision :   31.01.2017

 

Shinder Pal Kaur w/o Jasdeep Singh s/o Shamsher Singh, Proprietor of M/s Shinder Pal Dairy Farm, Village Surghuri, PO Kasam Bhatti, Hari Nau Road, Tehsil Kotkapura, District Faridkot.

...Complainant

Versus

1. The New India Assurance Company Ltd, through its Divisional Manager, 7 Gulabi Bagh, G T Road, Moga.

2. New India Assurance Company ltd. through its Branch Manager, Kotkapura, Tehsil and District Faridkot.

 .....Opposite Parties

Complaint under Section 12 of the

Consumer Protection Act, 1986.

 

Quorum: Sh. Ajit Aggarwal, President,

               Sh P Singla, Member.

 

Present: Sh  S K Jain, Ld Counsel for complainant,

              Sh Yash Pal Bansal, Ld Counsel for OPs.

 

(Ajit Aggarwal, President)

                                      Complainant has filed the present complaint under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 against OPs seeking directions to OPs to make payment on account of insured cows, who died during validity of insurance and for further directing OPs to pay Rs.56,885 as insurance claim and Rs.25,000/- for business loss and Rs.50,000/- as compensation for harassment, inconvenience, mental agony besides litigation expenses of Rs.10,000/-.

2                 Briefly stated, the case of the complainant is that complainant runs a Dairy Farm and she purchased 29 cows with the help of loan taken from State Bank of India, Agriculture Development Branch, Kotkapura and complainant got insured all her cows vide Insurance Policy No.36110047130400000040 valid from 31.07.2012 to 30.07.2015 on payment of Rs.82,908/- as per scheme of OPs. at the time of issuance of policy,  Veterinary Surgeon of OPs examined the cows purchased and issued health certificate. He also inserted microchips in the body of cows in place of tags on ear and this fact is clear from certificate issued by Veterinary Surgeon. It is further submitted that cows of complainant died during the validity of insurance period and complainant immediately informed OPs as well as Bank from which she took loan. Post mortem examination of cows was conducted in Veterinary Hospital, Village Madhak and Surveyor of OPs after medical examination of dead cows removed the microchips inserted in their body and these microchips are now in the custody of Surveyor. It is submitted that till today Ops have not given any information to complainant regarding settlement of her insurance claim on account of death of her cows though they have transferred some amount in the loan account of complainant but complainant has not been intimated by Ops regarding settlement of insurance claim that it has been repudiated or allowed. It is further submitted that complainant completed all the formalities to obtain insurance claim and paid several visits to the office of Ops, but all in vain. She has made many requests to Ops to settle the insurance claim on account of death of her cows as she has completed all the formalities and submitted requisite documents with them, but all her efforts to get her genuine insurance claim bore no fruit. Due to non payment of insurance claim by OPs, complainant has been suffering great economic loss and hardships. Complainant made many requests to Ops to settle his claim, but all in vain. This act of OPs amounts to trade mal practice and deficiency in service and it has caused harassment and mental agony to complainant for which she has prayed for directions to accept the complaint alongwith compensation and litigation expenses. Hence, the present complaint.

3                    The counsel for complainant was heard with regard to admission of the complaint and vide order dated 16.09.2015, complaint was admitted and notice was ordered to be issued to the OPs.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      4                 OPs filed written statement taking preliminary objections that complainant is not the consumer of OPs and there is no deficiency in service on their part as every death of alleged animal have different cause of action and present complaint is time barred. Moreover, complainant has not impleaded State Bank of India ADB Branch, Kotkapura as necessary party in complaint and therefore, it is liable to be dismissed on ground of non joinder of necessary parties. This Forum has no jurisdiction to hear and try the present complaint and there is no deficiency in service on the part of answering OPs and therefore, present complaint is liable to be dismissed. It is averred that complaint involves complex questions of law and facts, which require voluminous evidence and it cannot be decided by this Forum having limited jurisdiction and limited time span and therefore, it is liable to be referred to competent Civil Court. It is averred that complaint is filed on false and frivolous grounds and is liable to be dismissed. However, on merits OPs have denied all the allegations levelled by complainant being wrong and incorrect and asserted that cow of complainant bearing tag no.90010800008276 and cow bearing tag no.900108000008293 was insured with OPs for insured value of Rs.50,000/- and Rs.55000/-respectively and complainant lodged claim regarding death of his cows insured under Policy and claim regarding 900108000008293 has already been fully settled, while for tag no. 90010800008276 claim was paid to the tune of Rs.37,500/- i.e 75% of insured value because chip/tag was broken and was not readable and amount has been paid to complainant in his loan account. It is further averred that insured value for tags in question has already been paid to State Bank of India Agriculture Development Bank, Kotkapura on 28.08.2014 and 11.03.2015 respectively and this fact is very much in the  knowledge of complainant and all the claim of complainant has been settled by OPs and paid into the loan account of complainant i.e State Bank of India Agriculture Development Bank, Kotkapura. It is reiterated that there is no deficiency in service on the part of answering Ops as they have settled the claim under insurance policy purchased by complainant for his cows, which he purchased through loan. It is further averred that all amount has been paid in his loan account taken from State Bank of India Agriculture Development Bank, Kotkapura and now, no amount under said insurance policy is due towards them. All the other allegations and allegations with regard to relief sought too were refuted with prayer to dismiss the complaint with costs.

5                   Parties were given proper opportunities to prove their respective case. The complainant tendered in evidence his affidavit Ex.C-1 and documents Ex C-2 to 8 and then, closed his evidence.

6                        In order to rebut the evidence of the complainant, the ld Counsel for OPs tendered in evidence, affidavit of Deen Dyal, Div. Manager as Ex OP-1 and documents Ex OP-2 to 11 and document Ex R-x  and then, closed the same on behalf of OPs.

7                       We have heard the learned counsel for the parties and have very carefully gone through the affidavits and documents on the file.

8                       Ld Counsel for complainant has vehementally argued that that complainant runs a Dairy Farm and she purchased 29 cows with the help of loan taken from State Bank of India, Agriculture Development Branch, Kotkapura and complainant got insured all her cows vide Insurance Policy valid from 31.07.2012 to 30.07.2015 on payment of Rs.82,908/- as per scheme of OPs and at the time of issuance of policy, Veterinary Surgeon of OPs examined the said cows and issued health certificate and also inserted microchips in the body of cows, which is clear from certificate issued by Veterinary Surgeon. Cows of complainant died during the validity of insurance period and she immediately informed OPs as well as Bank. Post mortem examination of cows was conducted and Surveyor of OPs after medical examination of dead cows removed the microchips inserted in their body and these microchips are now in the custody of Surveyor. It is submitted that till today Ops have not given any information to complainant regarding settlement of her insurance claim on account of death of her cows though they have transferred some amount in the loan account of complainant but complainant has not been intimated by Ops regarding settlement of insurance claim that it has been repudiated or allowed. Though complainant completed all the formalities and paid several visits to the office of Ops, to obtain her insurance claim but all in vain. She made many requests to Ops to settle the insurance claim on account of death of her cows, but all her efforts to get her genuine insurance claim bore no fruit and due to non payment of insurance claim by OPs, complainant has been suffering great economic loss and hardships. It amounts to trade mal practice and deficiency in service and has caused harassment and mental agony to her. She has prayed for accepting the present complaint.

9                   To controvert the allegations of complainant, ld counsel for Ops argued that complainant is not their consumer and there is no deficiency in service on their part as every death of alleged animal have different cause of action and present complaint is time barred. Moreover, complainant has not impleaded State Bank of India ADB Branch, Kotkapura as necessary party in complaint and therefore, it is liable to be dismissed on ground of non joinder of necessary parties. It is further averred that this Forum has no jurisdiction to hear and try the present complaint and there is no deficiency in service on the part of answering OPs and therefore, it is liable to be dismissed. It is averred that complaint involves complex questions of law and facts, which require voluminous evidence and it cannot be decided by this Forum having limited jurisdiction and limited time span and therefore, it is liable to be referred to competent Civil Court. It is averred that complaint is filed on false and frivolous grounds and is liable to be dismissed. They have denied all the allegations levelled by complainant being wrong and incorrect and asserted that cow of complainant bearing tag no.90010800008276 and cow bearing tag no.900108000008293 was insured with OPs for insured value of Rs.50,000/- and Rs.55000/-respectively and complainant lodged claim regarding death of his cows insured under Policy and claim regarding 900108000008293 has already been fully settled, while for tag no. 90010800008276 claim was paid to the tune of Rs.37,500/- i.e 75% of insured value because chip/tag was broken and was not readable and amount has been paid to complainant in his loan account. It is further averred that insured value for tags in question has already been paid to State Bank of India Agriculture Development Bank, Kotkapura on 28.08.2014 and 11.03.2015 respectively and this fact is very much in the  knowledge of complainant and all the claim of complainant has been settled by OPs and paid into the loan account of complainant i.e State Bank of India Agriculture Development Bank, Kotkapura. It is reiterated that there is no deficiency in service on the part of answering Ops as they have settled the claim under insurance policy purchased by complainant for his cows, which he purchased through loan. It is further averred that all amount has been paid in his loan account taken from State Bank of India Agriculture Development Bank, Kotkapura and now, no amount under said insurance policy is due towards them. All the other allegations and allegations with regard to relief sought too were refuted with prayer to dismiss the complaint with costs.

10            After careful perusal of the record available on file and going through the evidence led by parties, it is observed that case of the complainant is that she purchased cows for running her dairy business after availing loan from bank and also got insured all her cows as per scheme of OPs and paid premium of Rs.82,908/-. At the time of issuance of insurance policy, OPs got conducted the medical examination of all cows through their Veterinary Surgeon and he inserted microchips in the body of all cows. Cows of complainant died and she duly informed OPs as well bank from where she took loan and also completed all the formalities and submitted all the requisite documents to OPs. Allegation of complainant is that the OPs have not settled the insurance claim on account of death of her cows though it is admitted that they have transferred some amount in the loan account of complainant. In reply, Ops asserted that they have made entire payment on account of insurance claim of complainant and have credited the said amount in the loan account of complainant and nothing is due towards them as insurance claim. In the light of documents Ex R-2 to 11, it is clear that Ops have approved and made payment on account of death of cows bearing tag numbers in question in the loan account of complainant. Amount of Rs.50,000/- and Rs.37,500/- is shown credited in the account statement in respect of loan account of complainant and now, there does not remain an iota of doubt that any claim pertaining to death of insured cows is still due towards OPs.

11                  From the above discussion and evidence produced by the complainant, we are of considered opinion that OPs have made entire payment on account of death of insured cows and there is no deficiency in service on the part of OPs. Complainant has failed to prove her case and hence, complaint case in hand is hereby dismissed being devoid of merits. However, in peculiar circumstances of the case, there are no orders as to costs. Copy of the order be supplied to parties free of cost as per law. File be consigned to record room.

Announced in Open Forum

Dated : 31.01.2017                 

                                        Member                          President

          (P Singla)                      (Ajit Aggarwal)