MOHD ADIL Vs. NEW INDIA ASSURANCE CO LTD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner/complainant owned an Indica car, he having purchased the same on 31.10.2006. The said vehicle was transferred in his name on the same day. He allegedly sent a letter dated 01.11.2006 to the insurer requesting transfer of the insurance policy which his Predecessor-in-Charge had obtained from the respondent, in his name. The said letter is alleged to have been sent to the insurer under Certificate of Posting dated 09.11.2006. The case of the respondent however, is that the aforesaid letter dated 01.11.2006 was never received by them from the petitioner and that the Certificate of Posting filed by the complainant/petitioner was a forged and fabricated document. The vehicle in question met with an accident in the night intervening 2nd /3rd December 2006, the petitioner/complainant submitted a claim for re-imbursement in terms of the insurance policy of the vehicle. The claim having not been paid, he approached the concerned District Forum by way of a Consumer Complaint.

(2.) The District Forum ruled in favour of the petitioner/complainant. Being aggrieved from the order passed by the District Forum, the insurer approached the concerned State Commission by way of an appeal. Vide impugned order dated 31.08.2015, the State Commission allowed the appeal and consequently, dismissed the complaint. Being aggrieved, the petitioner is before this Commission.

(3.) As noted earlier, the insurer has denied having received the letter dated 01.11.2006 from the complainant/petitioner. The learned counsel for the respondent submits that the complainant/petitioner had in fact sent a letter dated 07.12.2006 informing them of the accident and stating therein that the intimation of the accident had been given by him in the office of the insurer on 04.12.2006 but neither any attention was paid to the intimation given by him nor the insurance was transferred in his name. It was also stated in the aforesaid letter that the complainant/petitioner had sent a letter to the insurer on 01.11.2006 for transfer of the insurance policy in his name but since no note of the said letter was taken, he had sent a registered letter to the Head Office as well as the Branch Office of the insurer. A copy of the said letter dated 01.11.2006 was annexed to the letter dated 07.12.2006. Thus, the stand taken in the letter dated 07.12.2006 was contrary to the stand taken in the Consumer Complaint. As per the case set out in the Consumer Complaint, letter dated 01.11.2006 was sent under Certificate of Posting dated 09.11.2006 whereas as per the stand taken in the letter dated 07.12.2006, the request for transfer of the insurance in favour of the complainant was sent by registered post to the Head Office and the Branch Office of the insurer. No postal receipt evidencing dispatch of the aforesaid letter either to the Head Office or to the Branch Office of the insurer by registered post has been filed by the complainant which shows that a false stand with respect to dispatch of the letter dated 01.11.2006 was take in the letter dated 07.12.2006.