The Thane District Consumer Redressal Forum has ordered the Reliance General Insurance to pay a compensation of Rs2.5 lakh to a Thane resident, for failing to hand over the insurance amount for his vehicle, citing unreasonable reasons.
The forum has ordered the firm to pay an additional amount of Rs1 lakh for the mental agony suffered by the complainant on account of the matter.
The case dates back to 2010, when Subash Waatkar approached the insurance company seeking the insurance amount for his vehicle that went missing on January 22, 2010.
According to Waatkar's complaint to the forum, when he returned home on January 21, 2010, he parked his vehicle in front of his house. The next day his son found the vehicle was missing.
Waatkar stated that he searched for the vehicle in his colony, but he could not trace it. Convinced that the vehicle had been stolen, he registered a complaint of theft with the police.
He had insured the vehicle on a cover of Rs2.35 lakh with Reliance General Insurance, so he wrote a letter to the company applying for the insurance amount. But the insurance company did not respond to his letter till September 2010.
On September 25, 2010, Waatkar received a letter from Reliance General Insurance stating that his claim was rejected on the grounds that he did not inform the company about the loss of the vehicle within the stipulated time.
"The firm in its letter had maintained that there was a delay of 215 days in informing it about the loss and thus the claim was rejected," Waatkar said in his complaint.
When the forum checked with the evidence, it found that Waatkar had addressed a letter to the firm on the very day when his vehicle went missing.
The forum thus held the insurance firm responsible for rejecting the consumer's claims on false reasons, and asked the firm to compensate for the complainant's losses.
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