- (1.) THIS is insurer's appeal under Section 15 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 against the order dated 13.9.2010 passed by the District Forum, Almora, thereby allowing the consumer complaint No. 1 of 2009 and directing the opposite party - Life Insurance Corporation of India to pay to the complainant insured sum of Rs. 1,00,000 together with interest @ 6% p.a. from 26.10.2007, i.e., the date of lodging the claim with the Insurance Company till the date of actual payment and Rs. 5,000 as compensation.
(2.) IN brief the facts of the case are that the insured late Sh. Tara Dutt Pandey, the husband of the complainant, purchased a life insurance policy for sum of Rs. 1,00,000 on 30.03.2007 and the premium of Rs. 20,000 was paid. The insured was employed as Senior Head Messenger in State Bank of India, Tarikhet, District Almora. The complainant was the nominee under the said policy. On 4.8.2007, the insured felt pain in his heart and he was admitted in Khandelwal Hospital and Urology Centre, New Delhi, where he died. On claim being lodged by the complainant, the same was repudiated by the Insurance Company on the ground that the insured suppressed the material information in the proposal form. Alleging deficiency in service on the part of the Insurance Company, the complainant filed a consumer complaint before the District Forum, Almora.
(3.) THE Insurance Company filed written statement and pleaded that prior to taking the policy in question, the insured had taken certain leave from his office for treatment. The insured was suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Coronary Artery L.V. Dysfunction with Cardiogenic Shock, which fact was suppressed by him in the proposal form. It was also pleaded that the claim of the complainant has also been turned down by the Insurance Ombudsman, U.P. and Uttarakhand, Lucknow and it has been held that the life assured suppressed the material information and the decision of the Insurance Company for repudiating the claim has been upheld. It was also alleged that no deficiency in service has been made by the Insurance Company in repudiating the claim. The District Forum, on an appreciation of the material on record, allowed the consumer complaint vide order dated 13.9.2010 in the above terms. Aggrieved by the said order, the Insurance Company has filed this appeal.;