LIC directed to pay Rs 30,000 for failure to pay insurance money

Koraput: The district consumer disputes and redressal forum has pulled up the Koraput branch of the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India for failing to pay the insured amount of Rs 30,000 to the nominee of a dead policy holder.

The forum, in its order pronounced on Monday, asked the LIC to pay the assured sum of Rs 30,000 with an interest of 6% per annum from April 6, 2016 within 30 days of the communication of the order.

The complainant Budra Pradhani is a resident of Pradhaniguda of Boipariguda block in Koraput district. He said his father Baida Pradhani had bought an LIC policy bearing number 571394617 on July 22, 2006 and died on November 28, 2007 while the policy was in force. However, Budra came to know of the policy in 2016 and applied for the assured amount on March 29, 2016. But the LIC authorities contended that any death intimation received after three years is barred by limitation and is not payable.

“As I was working as a labourer in Andhra Pradesh for 10 years from 2006 to 2016, I was unaware of the policy bought by my father. I came to know of it after returning to the village in 2016,” said Budra. “I had also produced a certificate obtained from the sarpanch of Chandrapada before the LIC authorities to substantiate my absence from the village,” he added.

Budra further said as he failed to get the assured amount from LIC, he approached the consumer forum to direct the opposition party to pay the sum with an interest of 9% and a compensation of Rs 50 per day from November 28, 2007. After examining the case, verifying the documents and recording statements, the forum comprising its president Nibedita Rath and member Jyoti Ranjan Pujari, found the LIC guilty and directed it to pay the assured sum with an interest of 6% per annum.

“The complainant being the nominee is entitled to get the sum assured with interest. However, observing the peculiarity of the case, the forum is not inclined to grant interest from the date of the death of the policy holder but from the date of the filing of the case,” Rath said. She added that the forum was not inclined to grant any compensation and cost in favour of the complainant as prayed for.

Source: The Times of India