National Consumer Day highlights delays in district forums:5 districts under 1 president push complaint hearings beyond 3 months often nationwide

The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has been set up to give quick and low-cost justice. Rajendra Prasad Sharma, from the Principal District Judge Cadre, is the Chairman for five districts of Gwalior-Chambal: Gwalior, Bhind, Morena, Datia, and Sheopur. Because of this, hearings take place in Gwalior on Monday and Tuesday, while other districts have hearings on different days. Due to limited hearings, the pendency of cases is increasing. As per rules, a complaint should be resolved within 3-4 months, but dates are being given for one or two months later. Commission and complainant to verify survey’s authenticity The Supreme Court, in the case of United India Insurance vs. M/s. Park Leather Industries, stated that it is the responsibility of both the Commission and the complainant to verify the authenticity of the survey report. The insurance company reported a loss of 8 lakh, while the complainant claimed 47 lakh. The Court directed that the Commission should not blindly rely on the report but assess it with its own discretion. 75 percent claim amount is mandatory The Supreme Court, in the case of Ashok Kumar v. New India Assurance, stated that if there has been no fundamental breach of the policy conditions, the company is obligated to pay 75% of the claim amount. The company rejected the claim stating that the key was in the truck at the time of theft. The Court considered this negligence, but not a fundamental breach, and therefore deemed the rejection of the claim incorrect. Claim cannot be rejected for hiding diabetes The homepage of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India’s website has a link to the National Commission’s decision. According to this, rejecting a claim on the grounds of concealing information about diabetes-BP while taking insurance will be considered a deficiency in service. The Commission stated that if this were to happen, a large population suffering from these diseases would be deprived of obtaining insurance.