ORIENTAL INSURANCE CO LTD Vs. MERCURY RUBBER MILLS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE travails of an individual litigant are writ large in this case where the very purpose of the insured (i.e., M/s. Mercury Rubber Mills, a partnership firm) to take out insurance policies from the insurer(s) (i.e., M/s. Oriental Insurance Company Limited arid M/s. National Insurance Company Limited) for covering machinery breakdown and loss of profits on that account from time to time has been defeated.

(2.) THE extract from the Insurance Manual filed by the insurer in respect of such insurance policies shows the objective: with rapid industrialization, the machinery utilized was becoming more complicated with the result that repairs entail delays and complications bringing the entire work to a standstill even when small, but vital parts of machine fail. It was, thus, essential for the industrialists to ensure against such contingency. However, another insurance policy to cover the consequential losses that may be suffered by the individual using the machinery following the breakdown was also necessary and, thus, such kind of policies came into being.

(3.) THE insured lodged claims on 25.03.1982 qua the policies in question and a Surveyor was appointed. We may notice that the insured had obtained insurance policy regarding machinery breakdown from the National Insurance Company Limited, while the LOP policy was taken out from the insurer in the present case. Both the companies appointed a Surveyor and the claim with regard to machinery breakdown was settled to the satisfaction of the insured. However, the dispute arose in respect of the claims qua the insurer in the present case under the LOP policy, as against the breakdown of three different machineries the claims paid by the insurer were much less. The details of these claims are as under: <IMG>JUDGEMENT_650_DRJ127_2012s1.jpg</IMG>