Insurance firm told to pay relief
Consumer redressal forum awards Rs 1.70 lakh to car owner
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2015-08-27 07:34 GMT
Nellore: AP State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has ordered an insurance company to settle a claim of Rs 1.70 lakh pertaining to damages for a car in an accident that occurred in July 2010 at Nellore. The state forum upheld the verdict of the district forum in the claim of one Dega Janardhan Reddy of Nellore. The forum also directed the insurance firm to pay nine per cent interest from January 1, 2013 to the petitioner.
Mr Reddy said that he purchased a new Honda City Car in March 2010. The engine and some other parts were damaged aft-er the car hit a pit on the road covered with rain water at Nellore in July 2010. According to Mr Reddy, he demanded a claim of Rs 2.40 lakh based on the bills pertaining to repairs but the insurance company (Royal Sundaram Alliance Insurance Comp-any) had offered Rs 35,000 when he approached it.
The company maintained that the damage to the car was aggravated as it had been driven after hitting the pit hence no liability can be attached to them because of breach of a condition in the policy which restricts its use before carrying out repairs. The situation led Mr Reddy to move the district consumer forum in Nellore. The forum had allowed claim to the extent of Rs 1.70 lakh.
The district consumer forum struck down the condition while reminding that the vehicle can not be abandoned in the pit and the owner could not have noticed the damage unless he moved the car out of the pit. This led the insurance company to approach state redressal commission. The state forum in its recent order said "It is a natural human conduct that in a situation of this nature nobody would abandon the vehicle abruptly without making some effort to find out the defects. It could have been a different matter if the vehicle had been operated ignoring the defects and caused damage."
It is not even the case of the opposite parties that the vehicle sustained damage to the engine only on account of moving the vehicle for a short distance. Therefore, in the considered opinion of this commission, there is no justification on the part of the opposite parties to invoke condition No.4 of the policy pertaining to driving after the accident. When contacted for their comment, the branch officials of consumer forum said that the claims department in Chennai is handling the issue.