Date of death no issue,LIC asked to pay claim

Angry at the “unfair and unreasonable” rule that denied monetary aid to many such families,Khosla moved court. On Wednesday,almost 16 years after the tragedy,the Delhi High Court set aside LIC’s terms and ruled in his favour. The court said,“It (LIC) is not acting fairly or reasonably in insisting that no claim will be entertained for two years after the commencement of the policy.”

Appreciating Khosla’s tenacity and his “fair gesture” of not asking for the money for himself,but only seeking a court directive to clarify the law,Justice S Muralidhar said there was no rationale of adding such a stipulation when LIC had itself chosen to insure children and received premiums.

Defending its policy,the LIC contended that the “waiting period” in fact acted as a guard against likely moral hazard involving lives of innocent insured children.

But the court said if LIC had opted to insure children,there could be no justification in denying a claim on the basis that payments should stand postponed to a “deferred date”. Such apprehensions,the court observed,were present in all cases.

Justice Muralidhar also cited related data of LIC,which had around 5 lakh such policies till 2001,to dismiss the claim that there could be a spurt in such cases if the policy was quashed.

“It is directed that claims made hereafter under Jeevan Kishor Policy will not be repudiated by LIC on the ground that they have been made before the ‘deferred date’ subject,of course,to other conditions being satisfied,” the court ruled.

Khosla told Newsline on Thursday that his daughter was in Class V at the time: “I was shaken by her death and when LIC disclosed its policy,I decided to challenge since many people were affected by this policy. The court’s verdict is landmark and is in greater public interest.”

The lawyer also has another writ petition pending in High Court to fix accountability of officials,who allegedly failed to act on a message by the WHO regarding outbreak of dengue in the Capital in September 1996.