On 28.03.2022, the Delhi High court in the case of Gurmeet Singh v. Office of Insurance Ombudsman & Ors comprising of Justice Yashwant Varma quashed and set aside the order passed by Insurance ombudsman and directed the insurance company to release the due amounts.
Justice Yashwant Varma noted that “to appreciate the stand of the insurance company since it fails to decipher any connection between the admitted theft of the vehicle and the remote keys which were not produced.”
The said motor vehicle was insured by Oriental Insurance Company. The vehicle was allegedly stolen while parked in Gurugram. A complaint was duly lodged and the report was submitted to the concerned police station but the vehicle was not recovered.
The petitioner then lodged a claim for settlement before the insurance company which was refused. The sole reason for refusing the claim was a failure on the part of the petitioner to produce the additional remote keys which would have been provided to him by the manufacturer. The company stood on the grounds that the policy covered theft but did not extend to negligence. And the loss of the three remote keys by the petitioner amounted to negligence and thus refused to settle the claim. The insurance ombudsman also affirmed this reasoning.
But the High Court accepted the notion that “the policy did not stipulate or mandate the insured producing the three remote keys in order to substantiate a claim of theft”.
“Regard must necessarily be had to the fact that a failure on the part of the petitioner here to produce the three remote keys cannot possibly detract from the admitted fact that the vehicle was stolen and that the act of theft has no correlation with the three remote keys which were stated to be in the possession of the petitioner.” the Court further said.
Consequently, the High Court quashed and set aside the impugned order of the Insurance Ombudsman.
The Insurance Company has been directed to release the amounts due and payable under the Insurance Policy and in any case, within a period of one week from 28 March 2022.
The Insurance Company has also been obliged to pay interest @7% P.A. from 01 July 2019 till the date of payment.
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