S.C.VYAS,PRESIDENT - (1.) THIS order will govern disposal of appeal No. 182/09 as well as No. 197/09, which have arisen out of the same order, dated 5.3.2009, passed by District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Durg (hereinafter called "District Forum" for short), in complaint case No. 61/08. For the purpose of convenience, the appellant of appeal No. 197/09 will be referred as complainant and that of No. 182/09 will be referred as OP No. l, hereinafter. The District Forum has allowed the complaint of the complainant in part and directed the OP No. l to pay Rs. 1,67,463 along with compensation for mental agony Rs. 50,000 and cost of litigation Rs. 5,000, within a period of two months. Otherwise, the amount will carry interest @ 7% p.a. from the date of order.
(2.) CASE of the complainant before District Forum was that he has a Tata Hitachi Excavator 016 J 00003, which was insured by OP No. l Insurance Company, for the period from 31.6.2006 to 30.3.2007. On 19.7.2006, during operation, at the site of Hindustan Copper Project, Malajkhand, a heavy bolder collided with the machine and boom cylinder of the machine was damaged. Intimation was given to the Insurance Company. Mr. Vinod Jain was appointed as Surveyor by the Insurance Company. Service Engineer of OP No. 2 Company, the manufacturer of the machine, inspected the machine and recommended for replacement of boom cylinder. Again Mr. Shyam Chhabra was appointed as Surveyor by the Insurance Company, before whom, all necessary documents were produced including the Bill of purchase of boom cylinder, but even then the Insurance Company has repudiated the claim of the complainant, without any reasonable cause. So, the complaint was filed before District Forum.
(3.) IN reply the OP No. l, Insurance Company averred that the policy was provided for specific area Korba, Chhattisgarh. No damage was caused to the machine in that specified area. The machine was taken to some other area, for some other work, without intimation to the Insurance Company and so the Company was not liable to pay any compensation for any damages, beyond the area covered under the insurance policy. It has also been averred that after inspection of the machine, Service Engineer of the manufacturing company recommended, not to operate the machine, unless the part is changed, but even then it was used for next 38 days, for 389 hours, which caused extensive damages to the boom cylinder and other parts. Initially there were merely few scratches on the boom cylinder, without any substantial damage and use of the component for 38 days is sufficient to show that it was having no substantial damage. On this ground the claim of the complainant was repudiated by the Insurance Company. The District Forum after having considered the material placed before it by both parties, in the impugned order, has observed that even after damages, the complainant used the machine and thereby earned Rs. 2,00,000 and that amount was found deductible from the assessed damages by the Surveyor and deducting that amount the award was passed, which has been challenged by both parties.;