SURINDER KAUR Vs. HDFC LIFE INSURANCE CO. LTD.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This First Appeal filed under Sec. 19 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (in short, 'the Act') challenges the order dtd. 19/1/2018 of the State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission, Punjab (in short, the 'State Commission') in complaint no.372 of 2017 praying to set aside the impugned order and direct the respondents to release Rs.25,00,000.00 against the claim on account of death of the appellant's son with interest @ 18% per annum from the date of death till realization and Rs.2,00,000.00 as litigation expenses apart from any other order as deemed fit.

(2.) The brief conspectus of facts in the matter are that the deceased son of the appellant, Manjit Singh, had obtained a Life Insurance Policy from the respondents on 24/11/2014 vide Policy No.17185259 for a sum of Rs.25,00,000.00. The insured, however, expired on 21/2/2015 of natural causes and the complainant being the nominee of the deceased lodged an insurance claim for Rs.25,00,000.00 with the respondent. The respondent repudiated the claim vide letter dtd. 15/7/2015 on the ground that the Deceased Life Assured (DLA) had concealed the information of holding another, previous insurance policy issued to him prior to the policy in question. An appeal before the State Commission filed by the appellant in CC No.372 of 2017 was dismissed on 19/1/2018 upholding the contention of the opposite party/respondent that there had been suppression of material facts at the time of obtaining the policy.

(3.) This appeal is based on the contention that there was no suppression of any previous policy and that in case of Life Insurance Policy non-disclosure of any previous policy is not a material fact.