MANSINGH & ORS. vs ICICI GENERAL INSURANCE CO. LTD. & ORS.

In the rainfed areas of agriculture in India, the farmer finds himself completely at the mercy of the elements. crucially dependent upon availability of the requisite moisture and ambient temperature, all through the agricultural to harvest. Fluctuations beyond limited tolerance levels, almost always prove fatal to survival of the crop. Even when with the quality of the seeds, pesticides micronutrients and other inputs, the growth and yield can still be destroyed temperature variations or excessive rain and flooding. In this background, Government of India and the Government brought out an imaginative scheme under the caption Pilot Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme for Rabi 2008-issued by the State Government on 22.10.2008 gives details of this scheme. Being a Pilot Scheme, it is meant for Districts only. Benefit under the Scheme is limited to non-loanee farmers. The Scheme is designed to be implemented Lombard General Insurance Company Ltd.

The Scheme is for implementation on area approach basis. Insurance premium for the same is to be borne in Central and State Governments. Assessment of loss is to be made on fortnightly basis for damage suffered due to temperature and unseasonal rain. Under the Scheme the OP/ICICI Lombard is totally responsible for establishing centres for monitoring of the temperature and rain parameters for the purposes of determination of loss.

The matter in these 73 Revision Petitions before us arose from implementation of this Scheme in relation to District in Rabi 2008-09 crop season. Complaints were filed before District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, neither the claims were settled nor the details of temperature record relied upon were shared with them. Therefore, relied upon the data obtained from Indian Meteorological Department (IMD). Durg, District does not have an IMD therefore, temperature records of IMD Raipur for the period 1.1.2009 to 31.3.2009 have been relied upon by the Complainants. Complaint Petition, daily variations in increase of temperature, as compared to the bench mark figures of the OP, relied upon by the OP/Insurance Company. It is alleged in the complaint petitions that the OP/Insurance Co, has chart and shows by lowering the low rise in temperature'' . The Complainants had therefore prayed that insurance the policy condition of rise in temperature in this period is fulfilled.

In response to the above allegation in the Complaint, OP/ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company filed non-detailed Written Statement before the District Forum, which reads as follows:- "The Non-applicant ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company submits written statement as under:- 1. That, as per the statement of para 1 & 2 of application this applicant is having weather policy, policy no.407183 date 01/01/2009 to 31/03/2009 issued as per terms and condition of policy for which applicant insured had Company for 20 unit purchased at the rate of Rs.63 per Unit. The non applicant denies that on increase of compensation of Rs.3750/- is to be paid and also denies the rest statement in the absence of information and himself have to prove by present authentic documents the application had not qualified for the compensation condition of policy hence the claim denied. The non applicant insurance company has rightly rejected the claim false statement and excuse for non payment of compensation. 2. That the statement of para 3 and 4 is denied in the absence of information and document. The applicant himself presenting the evidence regarding the statement. Non applicant company had rightly rejected the claim on policy of weather Insurance policy the applicant is not qualified for the compensation and this cannot be treated service by the company. 3. That, the statement of para 5 and 6 is denied in the absence of information and document. 4. That, non applicant denies the statement para 7 of application that the Non applicant has rightly rejected the policy of the weather insurance policy the applicant is not qualified to get the compensation amount. 5. That, the statement of para 8 is regarding jurisdiction and is legal matter so no need of reply and else matter applicant denies that the non applicant had not replied to the applicant advocate legal notice. 6. That, the statement of para is of legal matter no need of reply. 7. That, the non applicant reserve his right for making any amendment in written statement and for producing evidence at the later stage. It is prayed that the complaint may kindly be dismissed."

The above response admits the basic parameters of the policy and the details of insurance obtained by the Complainant. significantly, it carries no response, except bland denials, on other specific allegations made in the Complaint. The not even explain the basis of calculations adopted by it for rejection of the claims of these farmers.

The District Forum decided the matter on 29.11.2012, after reconsideration on remand from the State Commission. details of the contentions of the Complainant with reference to the parameters laid down in the Scheme and held that temperature, as per data of NCMSL Centre Durg for the Month from January 2009 to March 2009, was 10.05 degree degree HDD (High Degree Deviation) level. Hence, it held that the insurance company was not liable to pay any complainants.

In appeals against the dismissal of the Complaints, the State Commission has examined the matter at considerable that it had earlier remanded the matter to the District Forum for consideration of the affidavit of Dr. Ganesh Ramamurthy, been filed subsequently in the State Commission. Dr. Ganesh Ramamurthy had filed it as Executive Vice President NCMSL, Hyderabad. As per his affidavit the NCMSL has installed 15 weather stations in 6 Districts of Chhattisgarh Durg district. All these stations are operational and data collected there from has been used in preparation of the chart from January to March 2009.

The State Commission has also raised a question about accuracy of the data relied upon by the OP/insurance the claims under the policy. It reads:- "17. This Commission has directed the District Forum that the District Forum is to be decided whether NCMSL can be believed in comparison to the data of Weather Centre of Raipur provided by Regional Centre, Nagpur of India, Meteorological Department. District Forum has held that weather data more accurate than Raipur Centre.

Learned District Forum elaborately discussed in paragraph 15 to 17 and reached to the conclusion NCMSL is reliable and according to the weather data provided by NCMSL, there is average deviation January 2009 to March 2009 are 10.05 C, which is less than 11 H.D.D. It appears that the deviation during the above period was less than 11 H.D.D."

It is in this background of concurrent orders of the fora below that these 73 revision petitions have been filed. have arisen out of a common order and involve common issues, they have been listed together for consideration. We considered the records and have heard the two sides. Advocates, Mr R K Bhavanani for the revision petitioners/complainants Vishnu Mehra for the respondent/ICICI Lombard General Insurance Co have been heard at length. The entire dispute manner in which the claims of the complainant/farmers, under the Pilot scheme of crop insurance, have been evaluated

It is clear from their decisions noted above that the fora below have taken a concurrent view in favour the NCMSL data, primarily on the basis of affidavit of Dr. Ganesh Ramamurthy and the terms of the agreement Government and the OP/Insurance Company. But, interestingly, the NCMSL itself has put a question mark on While supplying the relevant data for Chhattisgarh Districts to OP/ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Ltd., certification to the effect that the weather data being supplied are in accordance with the terms and conditions of the 25.5.2005 and the NCMSL had taken sufficient care to ensure authenticity of the data. However, the same document the following disclaimer in very fine print:- " Weather Data Disclaimer Quality assurance of meteorological sensors is a high priority of National Collateral Management Services Automatic Weather Station Network (NAWSN) staff. Transference of data to other locations involves some increases as the distance from the observation site increases and with the spatial variability of the particular in accordance with the scale of the weather even being measured. The data user assumes all responsibility Nevertheless, all recorded data gathered from instrumentation operating by NAWSN standards are considered information on the weather occurring at a particular instance and location. These data will not give precise occurred at a desired location away from an NAWSN site, but they do represent a sample of what occurred particular time period or weather event.

The NCMSL shall not be held liable for improper or incorrect use of the data described or information contained These data, information and related graphics are not legal documents and are not intended to be used as The NCMSL gives no warranty, express or implied, as to the accuracy, reliability, utility or completeness The user of this system assumes all responsibility and risk for the use of this server and the internet generally. disclaims all warranties, representations or endorsements, express or implied, with regard to the information this server or the interest, including, but not limited to, all implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for non-infringement." (Emphasis supplied) In our view, this disclaimer is nothing less than a formal destruction of the very reliability and completeness the entire implementation of the scheme rests. More importantly, as insurance claims have been disallowed narrow gap between the recorded and requisite levels of rise in temperatures. As per OP/Insurance Company, per the NCMSL data relied upon by the Insurance Co, fell short by less than 1 degree as against the requisite Mr. Vishnu Mehra, learned counsel for the OP has argued that the disclaimer is addressed to the user of the data, Lombard General Insurance Co. It is not addressed to the complainants. We do not accept this argument. If the data under-represents the reality, the OP stands to lose nothing. But, the farmer will have lost his protection. His claim be?and has actually been-- repudiated for falling below the requisite level.

In Agriculture Insurance Corporation of India Ltd. and Anr. Vs. Prahlad Singh and Ors. IV (2013) CPJ similar Disclaimer from the same agency NCMSL, came up for consideration before this Commission. It was held 25. Thus, as per above Weather Data Disclaimer issued by NCMSL, this company has absolved itself completely responsibility with regard to the authenticity of weather data collected by it. So, no reliance can be placed NCMSL on which absolute reliance has been placed by the petitioners. Hence, in the absence of reliable company, we have to rely on the data of the designated Alternative Weather Stations, which are Sardar Shahar, weather data of Indian Meteorological Department, Churu for the relevant periods.

Thus, both the Fora below rightly rejected petitioners'' total reliance on the weather data of NCMSL and view with reference to the weather data of the Designated Alternative Weather Station, accepted the weather Weather Station at Churu for which detailed reasons have been given by both the For a below which we have hereinabove. Hence, we do not find any ground to disagree with their orders."

In the cases before us, Complaint petitions have unequivocally challenged the correctness and transparency the OP. The disclaimer, if at all, damages the acceptability of the NCMSL data even more. In the Rajasthan case cited Commission took the view that the fora below had rightly rejected the NCMSL data and relied upon the alternative the present case, the Government of Chhattisgarh notification No.5873B-6/11-1/2008-09/14-2 dated 22.10.2008 has resultant situation. Para 12 of this notification read as follows:- "Important figures related to weather insurance shall be culled out through Modern self-operated Weather approved Weather Centers. I.C.I.C.I. Lombard shall be totally responsibility to get established and properly Weather Centers through National Collateral Management Services Limited (NCMSL) or any other competent (Emphasis supplied). Thus, there is provision for reliance upon an alternative competent agency. This has been overlooked by the fora below. that the claims of the complainants should be decided on the basis of the nearest IMD data of the relevant period. available for the January-March 2009 period with IMD, Raipur. Consequently, orders of the fora below are set aside. General Insurance Co. is directed to settle the claims of the petitioners/Complainants with reference to the data of period of three months from the date of this order.

Before parting with the matter we consider it necessary to place it on record that during the course of hearing petitions we had raised certain questions aimed at complete appreciation of the optimal beneficial potential of the Crop Insurance Scheme for Rabi 2008-09 . Towards this, respondent/insurance Co was directed to submit in writing following questions? As the NCMSL data monitoring centres have been set up very recently (post 2008), what is the historical data determine the Benchmark for maximum temperatures adopted for the six fortnights of January March 2009 What is the basis for determination of threshold levels in this Scheme. How are HDD level of 11 degrees and degrees determined? How many times has the HDD level of 11 degrees been crossed in Durg district in the last 25 years, in the relevant period? The answers received carry very little substantive content. The Registrar of the Commission is therefore, directed order to Chief Secretary, Government of Chhattisgarh to enable the State government to evaluate whether the Pilot implemented so far, has served the purpose of providing substantive relief to the farmers who have suffered crop variation in seasonal temperatures.

The revision petitions are allowed in the aforesaid terms. No costs.