JUDGMENT

B. P. JEEVAN REDDY, J. - This appeal is preferred by the Gujarat Maritime Board against the order dated 14-6-1996 passed by the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission rejecting the objections filed by the appellant.

2. The appellant had provided finance to one Shri Ramesh Chandra Gordhandas Faldu for purchasing a vessel, "Chandra Vasa". The amount of loan provided was Rs 11,25,000. The vessel was mortgaged in favour of the appellant (as a successor to the Director of Ports, Government of Gujarat). In the year 1982, Ramesh Chandra sold the said vessel to the first respondent, Shri Haji Daud Haji Harun Abu, for sum of Rs 3,00,000.

3. In June 1987 the said vessel, on its voyage from Dubai to Bombay, was caught in a hurricane and sank at sea. The vessel was insured with the United India Insurance Company Limited, the third respondent in this appeal. When Haji Daud laid a claim for the insurance amount, the insurance company refused to pay the amount to him on the ground that he has no insurable interest in the vessel, whereupon Haji Abu laid a complaint before the National Consumer Commission. The Commission recorded the following findings in its order dated 12-1-1995