DHRUBA CHANDRA BEHERA Vs. NATIONAL INSURANCE CO LTD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Petitioner, claiming to be the nominee of the policy holder, has filed this writ petition for a direction to the opposite parties to sanction and disburse the amount under the policy in question with interest as per this Court's order dated 6.5.2009 within a stipulated time and for payment of compensation for the loss of earning, mental agony and expenses for non-disbursement of the amount in spite of the direction of this Court in the order referred to above.

(2.) The case of the Petitioner is that he is the nephew of one Birabara Behera who accepted him as his son with love and affection from his childhood. Said Birabara Behera had insured himself under the Janata Personal Accident Claim Policy with the opposite party No. 1 which had a tie-up arrangement with opposite party Nos. 3 and 4 for which they were empowered to cater personal life insurance policies like Mediclaim Insurance, Personal Accident Insurance and Amartya Siksha Yojana Policy to their members. In the policy, the insured had declared the Petitioner as his nominee. The insured was unmarried. The Petitioner being the nominee was entitled to get all the legal compensation as per the insurance policy. After the death of the insured Birabara Behera on 9.8.2005 due to snake bite the Petitioner being the nominee submitted the claim with the opposite party No. 1 along with all relevant documents for disbursement of the amount under the policy in question. As there was no response from the insurer for a pretty long time and on repeated approaches on 4.5.2006 the insurer repudiated the claim without any basis, the Petitioner approached this Court by filing W.P.(C) No. 15847 of 2008 seeking for issuance of a direction to the insurer-opposite party No. 1 to settle the claim under the insurance policy in question referred to supra. This Court vide order dated 6.5.2009 directed opposite party No. 1 to consider and dispose of the claim of the Petitioner as expeditiously as possible preferably within a period one month from the date of production of a certified copy of the order. Within the period stipulated in the order, the order was not complied with. Again the Petitioner has approached this Court. It is the case of the Petitioner that in spite of fulfilling all the requirements by filing the application claiming the insured amount, opposite party No. 1 who is the sanctioning authority did not either sanction the amount or intimate by letter that his claim has been repudiated. Therefore, the Petitioner enquired the matter through opposite party No. 4 regarding his claim. In turn, opposite party No. 4 informed the Petitioner that they have sent letter regarding the insured amount to opposite party No. 1. It is also further stated that the Petitioner along with his advocate had gone to Kolkata Office of opposite party No. 1 to intimate the Court order by taking another certified copy and another representation Annexure-2. In spite of the aforesaid efforts made by the Petitioner, opposite party No. 1 did not respond to the Court order either sanctioning the insured amount or repudiating the claim. Therefore, once again the Petitioner has left with no other alternative but to approach this Court seeking for the reliefs as stated supra. The ground urged by the learned Counsel for the Petitioner in support of the claim is that inaction of the insurance company to disburse the amount despite the fact that the Petitioner is the nominee and also the legal heir under the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 and the inaction of the Insurance Company violates Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution. The Petitioner has also placed reliance upon the guidelines which are extracted in this judgment.

(3.) It is also relevant to refer to the documents, i.e. the insurance policy Annexure-1 in the name of the insured, copy of the legal heir certificate Annexure-2 series, certificate issued by Officer-in-charge, Govindpur police station stating that the insured expired on 9.8.2005 due to snake bite as ascertained from the register of Mahidharpada P.H.C. and local enquiry,Annexure-3 the application for death claim of the insured, Annexure-4 the Janata Personal Accident Insurance Policy Claim Form in respect of the insured wherein the Assistant Surgeon has certified in the relevant column to the following effect: " As the patient did not improve and went to coma state, the patient was referred to S.C.B. Medical College, Cuttack".