9 yrs after robbery, insurance firm to pay jeweller 43L

Mumbai: An insurance company will have to pay around Rs 20 lakh in interest for wrongly repudiating the claim of a jeweller whose gold worth Rs 23 lakh was stolen during transit in 2004.      United India Insurance Co Ltd will also have to reimburse the claim amount of Rs 23 lakh to Bhuleshwar Roadbased Pravin Kumar Ramani, as the Maharashtra State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission found no substance in the firm's argument that the jewellery was lost due to an employee's negligence.      According to the complaint filed by Ramani in the state commission, his employee was given a bag containing gold bangles weighing a total of 4.1kg to be taken to Bangalore. The bus in which he was travelling halted for lunch at Khed and the employee was forced to alight as the bus was to be locked. The employee was the last to get off the bus and he ensured that the bag was chained to the seat. But when he returned to his seat after lunch, he found the jewllery was stolen.      Ramani registered an FIR and filed the claim with the insurance company. But the firm rejected the claim on the basis of an exclusion clause. Aggrieved, Ramani filed a complaint in the commission.      The commission said that a simple reading of the exclusion clause would show that an involvement of the employee as an accomplice, or the act of commission or omission on part of the employee should have a direct nexus with the felony. "In this case, such possibilities were ruled out and insurance company did not place any material on record to infer otherwise. If the employee gets involved in such capacity and in such form with the felony, then the case may be covered by this exclusion clause and not otherwise," the commission said.      It further stated that under such circumstances, interpretation of this clause which favours the consumer is to be accepted. "As the insurance company failed to discharge the onus which lies upon it to justify its repudiation, it is deficient in service," the commission said.  THE ORDER      The Maharashtra State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission directed India Insurance Co Ltd to reimburse the claim amount of 23 lakh to Bhuleshwar jeweller Pravin Kumar Ramani as gold bangles weighing 4.1kg were stolen in transit in 2004      The firm will also have to pay 20 lakh in interest for wrongly repudiating the robbery claim