NATIONAL INSURANCE CO LTD Vs. ASHOKBHAI BABARBHAI PATEL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present revision petition has been filed by the National Insurance Company Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the 'Petitioner') being aggrieved by the order of the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Gujarat hereinafter inferred to as the 'State Commission') in favour of Mr. Ashokbhai Babarbhai Patel (hereinafter referred to as the'Respondent').

(2.) The facts of the case are that the Petitioner Insurance Company had issued a Group Janata Personal Accident Insurance Policy to the Member-Secretary, Gujarat Rural Workers Welfare Board for a period from 26.1:2005 to 1.10.2005 under which the accidental death cover for a sum of Rs. 1 lakh was provided to all the landless labourers of Gujarat. The deceased wife of the Respondent, Ms. Leelaben Ashokbhai Patel, was also covered under this policy. On 23.1.2005, the deceased Leelaben while cooking the evening meal at her residence suffered severeburn injuries to which she succumbed in Paldi Hospital on 26.1.2005. Her husband, Ashokbhai Babarbhai Patel, the Respondent thereafter lodged a claim with the Petitioner Insurance Company for the assured amount of Rs. 1 lakh under the policy. The claim was rejected on the ground that the accident occurred on 23.1.2005 on which date the deceased was not covered under the policy since the policy period commenced zv.e.f. 26.1.2005.

(3.) Aggrieved by this action, Respondent filed a complaint before the District Forum on the grounds that the claim was wrongly repudiated because on the date of death of the deceased i.e. 26.1.2005 the policy had commenced and it is this date that should be decisive in settling the insurance claim and not 23.1.2005 when the burn injuries occurred. The District Forum accepted the complaint of the Respondent on the grounds that since the deceased died on 26.1.2005, therefore, the date of death should be decisive and it would entitle the Respondent to claim the insurance amount under the policy even though the injuries might have been received on 23.1.2005. The District Forum directed the Petitioner Insurance Company to pay the Respondent Rs. 1 lakh with interest @ 9% from 6.12.2005 and a cost of Rs. 1,500.