THE NEW INDIA ASSURANCE CO LTD THROUGH ITS MANAGER, TOWER Vs. R.P. OIL INDUSTRIES SRI RAMLAL AGARWAL, AT POST DHANMANDAL, C/O. M/S. RAM LAL & CO., 67/41, STRAND ROAD KOLKATA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This First Appeal, by the New India Assurance Co. Ltd. (for short the Insurance Company), the sole Opposite Party in the Complaint, is directed against the order dated 8.1.2007, passed by the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Orissa at Cuttack (for short the State Commission) in C.D. Case No.30/1998. By the impugned order, while allowing the Complaint filed by the Respondent, the State Commission has directed the Insurance Company to pay to the Complainant a sum of Rs. 4,10,000.00 towards indemnification of the loss suffered by them on account of spilling of the groundnut oil when the tanker, in which it was being transported overturned. As a default stipulation, the Insurance Company has been made liable to pay interest on the said amount at the rate of 9% p.a. from the date of repudiation till realization, if the amount is not paid by 31.8.2007.

(2.) Briefly stated, the material facts, giving rise to the present Appeal, are : that the Complainant, a Firm, engaged in the manufacture of oil and oil cakes at its factory in District Jaipur, Orissa. It had obtained from the Insurance Company, a Marine Policy in respect of its consignments on declaration basis covering the period from 18.10.1994 to 17.10.1995 or till the sum insured exhausted, whichever was earlier. The assured sums were Rs. 15,00,000.00 and Rs. 5,00,000.00 against the single transit limit.

(3.) Aggrieved by the said decision, the Respondent filed the Complaint before the State Commission. The Complaint was contested by the Insurance Company on diverse grounds. In the written version filed on its behalf, it was pleaded that the driver of the tanker did not possess a valid and effective driving licence on the date of accident; the claim was fictitious, as revealed by the report of the Investigator and therefore, there was no deficiency in service on its part in closing the case as No Claim.