NATIONAL INSURANCE CO LTD Vs. SAT BHUSHAN JAIN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Whether the arbitration clause in an insurance policy pertaining to disputes about the quantum of the insurer's claim (liability under the policy being otherwise admitted) would operate as a jurisdictional bar to the entertainment of a complaint by the redressal agencies under the Act? This is the primal issue raised in this appeal.

(2.) The respondent Sat Bhushan Jain is admittedly the registered owner of truck No. HYE-2497 which was comprehensively insured with the appellant-Insurance Company. During the period covered by the policy, the said truck met with a serious accident near Jaipur on the 22nd of February, 1991 whilst carrying a full load of wood-pulp and was over-turned. The complainant-owner immediately contacted the appellant's office at Jaipur and Shri Sandeep Khanna Surveyor and loss assessor was deputed for spot inspector. He prepared a detailed report about the said accident and noticed the individual items and the serious damage to the vehicle. He also got the relevant photographs taken. The complainant thereafter had to tow the damage truck all the way from Jaipur to Hansi. Thereat Shri Madan Gopal Singla was appointed as a Surveyor and loss assessor by the appellant-company itself for assessing the amount of compensation. At the assessor's behest, the complainant got the truck repaired at this own expense and submitted the details of the claim. The Surveyor however, recommended only the payment of an amount of Rs.19,245/- which obviously was not acceptable to the complainant.

(3.) It is also the complainant's case that at Hansi estimates were secured from various workshops for the extensive repairs needed to the truck because of the heavy damage thereto. The Surveyor Shri Madan Gopal Singla after inspection had directed the complainant to get the same repaired at his own expense. Consequently, the claimant incurred the cost of Rs.62,417.30 paise towards the repair charges of the vehicle and thereafter submitted the bills and receipts thereof for their payment and settlement of the claim. However, these were returned to him on some pretext and later to his consternation he discovered that Shri Madan Gopal Singla Surveyor had recommended only Rs.19,000/- as compensation. The allegations of malafides are levelled against the company officiais including the surveyor. In the end, a claim of Rs.70,404.60 paise as compensation alongwith interest was sought as relief.