Andhra Pradesh

Fined for lodging a false complaint

VISAKHAPATNAM: The Visakhapatnam District Consumer Forum-I has directed a consumer to pay Rs.25,000 towards costs and unnecessary hardship caused to the opposite party for a false complaint.

Dadi Satyanarayana of Kasimkota village in Visakhapatnam district had a son Rama Rao who was issued Janata Personal Accident Policy for Rs.1 lakh by the National Insurance Company, Dwarakanagar, in Visakhapatnam city, valid for one year from June 2002.

He said Rama Rao fell accidentally from a tree on February 10, 2003, and was shifted to NTR Area Hospital, Anakapalle, where he died. Subsequently, when he was cleaning the almirah of his son, he came across the insurance policy and immediately informed the insurance company in August 2006. But the latter refused to honour the claim and therefore, he filed a complaint (823/2006) in the Forum against the company.

The opposite party contended that the complainant gave a statement that his son died in an accident in Pisinikada area while proceeding on a bicycle along with his brother Nagaraju.

The latter also gave a statement to that effect. An advocate investigator who verified the genuineness said that Rama Rao met with an accident on May 9, 2002, and was treated in King George Hospital until September 7, 2002, and died later on February 10, 2003. The complainant had filed a petition in X Additional District Judge, Anakapalle, seeking compensation.

By suppressing the accident date and treatment in KGH, the insurance policy was obtained fraudulently subsequent to the death for the period covering from June 12, 2002, to June 11, 2003, it said.

President of the Forum Y. Dhilleswara Rao and members – G. Viswanatha Reddy and D. Suseela – who examined the case recently, noted that the death intimation was given by the complainant on August 10, 2006, after abnormal delay, which was not satisfactorily explained. Another aspect was the suppression of the accident and treatment in KGH which came to be known after perusing the FIR filed by Rama Rao in which he said a lorry from the opposite direction dashed against him and his brother. While the accident occurred on May 9, 2002, and he was bedridden until his death on February 10, 2003, the policy was obtained which was valid for a year from June 12, 2002, they observed.

“When that was the critical state of his condition, how is it the policyholder climbed a palm tree on February 10, 2003, and died after falling accidentally?

Therefore, the very objective behind obtaining the policy when the policyholder was critically ill was with fraudulent intention to make wrongful gain,” the Forum stated and held the complaint was prima facie false and vexatious and therefore the complainant should be suitably dealt with.

In the result, the complaint was dismissed directing the complainant to pay Rs.25,000 towards costs and unnecessary hardship caused to the opposite party.

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