Insurance firm directed to pay compensation to accident victim

A consumer court has directed an insurance company to pay full claim amount of Rs 3.65 lakh and compensation to owner of a vehicle in an accident case.
Thane Consumer Redressal Forum president Sneha Mhatre and members, Madhuri Vishwarupe and N D Kadam, in their recent decision ordered Reliance General Insurance Company to pay full claim sum and a compensation of Rs 43,000 to complainant Ramprasad Yadav, a resident of Dombivli.
Complainant's counsel S C Bodulla told the forum that the complainant owned a pickup van and used it to transport raw bananas from Dombivili to Bhusawal to banana wafer processing units.

On September 22, 2013, Yadav was going in the vehicle towards Bhusaval with the driver and the cleaner. The vehicle met with a mishap near Parola in Jalgaon, in which he sustained head injuries.
The van was also severely severely damaged and Yadav lodged a police complaint on the same very day. He was subsequently operated for head injury in Dombivli and afterwards he filed a claim with the insurer.
The insurance company rejected the claim in February 2014, stating that he had violated the policy conditions.

It also argued before the forum that the claim does not stand as the owner had violated the norm by accommodating three persons in the van while only two passengers can travel in it.

Bodulla pointed out that the complainant made use of the vehicle for his livelihood and during the course had to take assistance of the driver and cleaner.
He submitted that the complainant was travelling in the vehicle neither as a passenger nor as a driver as he was the owner of the vehicle.