The State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (SCDRC) in Delhi on February 27 directed New India Insurance Co. Ltd to refund a sum amounting to more than ₹35 lakh, after the insurance company repudiated the claim based on the assessment of the second surveyor. The state forum held that the insurance company had failed to justify the reasons for which a surveyor was appointed for the second time.
It had been alleged in the complaint that due to a fire that broke out in the factory in 2007, the storeroom containing finished goods and fabric had all been burnt.
The complaint, further, alleged that the office equipment including furniture and fixtures had been damaged by the fire.
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It was also alleged that despite a surveyor assessing the amount of loss, the insurance company appointed a second surveyor.
However, the firm contended that relevant documents were not submitted by the complainant and emphasised the second surveyor’s assessment that said that “either loss was nominal or there was no loss at all”.
“The opposite party [insurance company] submitted that the assessment of loss made by the first surveyor was far from satisfactory and based on fabricated documents and statements of stocks manipulated by the insured” observed the state consumer forum.
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Referring to previous judgments that said that insurance companies could not appoint one surveyor after another to delay the payment, the state commission held, “In the absence of any reasons given by the opposite party for the appointment of the second surveyor for opinion, this commission is left with no option but to discard the opinion of the second surveyor.”
The company has been asked to refund the entire amount within two months along with an interest.