Over 9,000 plaints pending at insurance ombudsman

The Insurance ombudsman office currently has over 9,000 complaints pending, information accessed through an RTI has revealed. A complainant whose application with the ombudsman has been pending for several months had asked for the information under the RTI.

What is worse is that the post of Insurance Ombudsman, who looks after cases of the state, has been vacant for almost eight months. This despite over 100 applications coming for the job.

Mahendra Dharod, a resident of Dadar, had filed an RTI application to know what the authorities are doing about the vacancy. "The post of Insurance Ombudsman is a very important one. My wife was in the hospital and the insurance company rejected the entire claim amount. I then approached the ombudsman. However, the post has been vacant for nearly eight months since. When insurance companies know that there is no ombudsman, they make a point of stalling claims all the more," said Dharod.

Dharod, in his application, sought to know the action taken and details of the application. "They did not give me the information and said that such information cannot be provided. They have given evasive replies for details such as when will the vacancies be filled," said Dharod. There was no response from the office of the executive council of insurers.