Insurance Co to pay compensation for denying claim

“It is the duty of the insurance company or its agent to look into the certificate of registration of the vehicle and insure it as per its particulars. In the absence of the same,the insurance company cannot take benefit of its own wrong,” the Forum,comprising President B B Choudhary and Member S R Agarwal,said.

The complainant,Robin Banga,approached the consumer court seeking direction to the insurance company,the New India Assurance Co Ltd,to settle the claim and compensation for mental agony.

The Forum also directed the company to pay Rs 13,000 as the litigation charges to the complainant.

“It was not appropriate on the part of the insurance company to repudiate the claim by stating that the complainant was not the registered owner of the vehicle and had no insurable interest,” the Forum said.

The company’s claim that the information regarding particulars of the vehicle was orally provided to its agent by the complainant was rejected by the Forum,saying that it was difficult for a person to remember engine and chasis number.

“It is difficult to believe that the engine number and chasis number of the vehicle were told orally to the agent. We believe that it must have come to the knowledge of the agent of the company only by seeing the certificate of registration,” the Forum said.