Chandigarh: Insurance company fined for deficiency in services

The commission also directed the company to pay ₹5000 as compensation for causing mental agony and harassment to the complainant; and ₹7000 as costs of litigation. Complainant, SP Yadav, resident of Zirakpur, had filed a case against HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company Limited, Sector 8, Chandigarh; chief general manager, Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority of India (IRDAI), Hyderbad; and CEO Modern Automobiles MW Area, Industrial Area Phase-I, Chandigarh. Yadav said that he got his personal car insured from HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company Limited and IRDAI with the validity from May 2020 to May 2021. In August 2020, the car met with an accident at Zirakpur and he submitted the demand for claim. A surveyor deputed by the insurance company asked for money for a favourable report, which he denied. The company rejected his claim without giving any reasonable explanation. Following this, Yadav filed a complaint with a commission. The HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company Limited in its reply, while admitting the factual matrix of the case, stated that the complainant committed a breach of the fundamental policy of the insurance company by giving a delayed intimation of the accident six days after the incident. Also, on the basis of surveyor report the claim of the complainant was rightly repudiated. IRDAI, Hyderabad, in its reply stated that no specific relief has been sought against it in the complaint and it has no role in the matter as the dispute is between the complainant and the other insurance company. Modern Automobiles stated that the dispute is between the complainant and the insurance company and it has no role to play. The commission observed: “Assuming that the vehicle had met with accidents on more than one occasion during the currency of the policy, even then the insurance company is liable to pay for it. Thus, in our view by non-payment of the legitimate claim of the complainant, it has indulged in unfair trade practice and are deficient in providing service to the complainant.”