Forum fines risk firm for repudiating claim of deceased farmers' kin

The Central Mumbai district consumer dispute redressal forum on Monday pulled up Future Generali India Insurance for failing to hand over the claim amount to the families of four deceased farmers from Raigad.

The forum has directed the insurance firm to pay the insurance amount of Rs1 lakh each to the four families at 12% interest from the date of the death of each farmer. It has also directed the firm to pay an additional amount of Rs3,000 each for the mental agony caused to the complainants.

According to the complainants, the government had got the farmers enrolled under its scheme of 'Shetkari Apghat Vima Yojana', which provided an insurance cover of Rs1 lakh to a farmer's family in case of his death. As per the complaint, all four farmers — Balaram Rakhade's son, Anant Bait, Ramesh Nawle, and Nagesh Khaire — died between 2009 and 2010. As all four had accidental deaths, they fulfilled the criteria of the government scheme, and, hence, their families immediately approached their tehsildar's office for the insured amount. However, after waiting for a few months, the firm repudiated the claim on the ground that the families did not submit the required documents in the right time frame.

The forum, after going through the evidence, held, "The complainant(s) has complied (with) all the formalities as required under agreement and Government Resolution. Thus, the claim is wrongly repudiated by the opponent."