Kamla Arora vs Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd.

THIS revision petition arises out of an order passed by Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Delhi on 20.10.2004 disposing Appeal No. A-1008 of 1998 against the order dated 5.6.1998 of District Forum in Complaint No. 2803 of 2004.

HEARD the learned Counsel for the parties. It is undisputed that as per the terms and conditions of the policy, if the vehicle in question, which was purchased, was stolen within a period of two years, only 10% depreciation is required to be deducted for assessing its value and for reimbursement to the insured. In this view of the matter, order passed by the State Commission assessing the value of the vehicle by deducting 20% depreciation cannot be justified. Order passed by the State Commission requires to be modified accordingly. Hence, it is ordered that the complainant is entitled to Rs. 3,52,000/- i.e. the price after deducting 10% depreciation of the purchase price. It is further ordered that Insurance Company shall pay the said amount with interest at the rate of 10% per annum from 1.3.1994, that is the date approximately after lapse of 3 months from the date of incident.

Further it is to be stated that the observation made by the District Forum and the State Commission is to the following effect: "The explanation of the complainant in this regard is that he had given a blank cheque to the agent of respondent No. 1 who himself filled up the value of the car as its original value, i.e. Rs. 3,91,433.76. This itself shows not only negligence on the part of the complainant but also his unscrupulous behaviour or conduct in claiming the same amount which was filled up by the Insurance Agent though after one year the value of the car must have depreciated by 10% to 20%."

This observation is totally unjustified because mentioning of the purchase price while taking the Insurance Policy, cannot be said to be unscrupulous behaviour or conduct.

THE opposite party-Bank shall pay the amount of Rs. 5,000/- as ordered by the District Forum within four weeks from today. In this view of the matter, revision petition is partly allowed. The order passed by the State Commission is modified accordingly. There shall be no order as to costs. Revision Petition partly allowed.