Consumer Commission penalises United India Insurance Co.

Awards the complainant Rs. 27,23,177, litigation charges

The J&K State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Srinagar headed by Mr. Justice (Retd) G.D. Sharma and Mrs. Rifat Aijaz, Member, in an order passed in the complaint filed by Mrs. Parmeshwary Sawhney against United India Insurance Co. Ltd gave an award of Rs. 27, 23, 177/- (Rupees twenty seven lakh twenty three thousand one hundred and seventy seven only) alongwith interest @ 8 % per annum from January 18, 2005 when the surveyor had submitted his report to the insurance company as well as awarded litigation charges of Rs. 20, 000/- in her favour.

The house of the complainant was set ablaze during the intervening night of February 01 and 02, 2004 and that building had been insured under an insurance cover of Rs 70,68,000. She had raised the claim with the insurance company which was refused on the plea that she was not the exclusive owner of the insured property because she had one son and two daughters. The defence taken by the insurance company was that she had obtained the insurance policy by suppressing the material facts.

On the contrary, the defence taken by the complainant was that she had been getting the property insured for the last 35 years by paying the premium regularly in the same manner in which the current insurance policy in question had been obtained. Her two daughters are married outside the state and her son has been residing in United States. So, she was managing the affairs of the property and insurance company had nothing to do with the title of the property. The insurance company had insured the property and not the ownership, she had contended.

The commission after considering the matter in detail allowed the claim in the above stated amount alongwith litigation charges.