Insurance firm fined for rejecting car theft claim

: A court here has allowed a car owner to recover ₹3.5 lakh from Oriental Insurance Company for not approving his insurance claim after the theft of his vehicle in 1999.

The Maruti Zen car of Madan Lal Gupta was stolen when it was parked in front of ABN Amro Bank on Parliament Street.

Case registered

He immediately lodged an FIR with the Connaught Place police. A month later, he filed a claim with the insurance company after the police reported the vehicle as untraced. However, the company failed to process his claim despite it being repeatedly approached. After getting no reply to his legal notice to the company, Mr. Gupta approached the consumer forum but he later withdrew his complaint in view of it being time-barred. Finally, he filed a suit in 2013 in the court of Additional District Judge Kamini Lau for the recovery of his claim.

The insurer opposed the suit arguing that it was time-barred. But Dr. Lau dismissed the argument.

“The defendant [insurance company] had received all the required documents from the plaintiff with regard to his claim, and it is on the basis of the same that they had informed the plaintiff [in 2015] that the matter was still pending,’’ Dr. Lau said.

“Hence, Ithe plaintiff is entitled to the recovery of the claim of ₹3,50,000,’’ the judge ordered. The court also permitted the car owner to recover the amount at the rate of 8 % interest per year from the insurance company for the agony caused to him.