Acceptance of xerox copies of documents as part of the record, unless their genuineness is questioned.

Mr. Justice D.M. Patnaik, President—Heard Mr. A.K. Mishra, learned Counsel for the Life Insurance Corporation of India (the ‘LIC’ for short). None present for the complainant. We have perused the impugned order.

2. The sole point for decision is whether the LIC would be made liable to pay the sum assured under the endowment policy for 15 years. With quarterly premium, the sum assured being Rs. 25,000/-. The complainant as the father of the deceased Laxminarayan Sahoo, the original policy holder, has challenged the inaction of the LIC in not disbursing the amount under the insurance policy.

3. It is not disputed that the LIC asked the complainant to furnish necessary documents, such as, Death Certificate, F.I.R., P.M.R., P.I.R., P.F.R. etc., which according to the complainant were supplied by him. The District Forum in Paragraph 4 of the judgment has mentioned that the LIC admitted the submission of the proposal form by the deceased policy holder and also the fact of the insurance itself. It is the case of the LIC that they did not commit any deficiency in service. But since according to them, the necessary documents were not supplied by the complainant, this could not be settled.

4. The only ground raised by Mr. Mishra is that no original documents were proved. We keep it on record that we accept the xerox copies of the documents which also do form part of the record unless the genuineness of such documents is questioned. We also do not accede to the request of Mr. Mishra that interest should be reduced to any amount below 12 per cent.

5. On going through the materials on record and the judgment of the District Forum we do not find that there is any infirmity in the order. Accordingly we dismiss the appeal and direct the LIC to pay the amount awarded by the District Forum within a period of two months from the date of communication of this order. Parties to bear their own costs.

Appeal dismissed.

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