Mrs. Vineeta Rai, Member—This First Appeal has been filed by Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as ‘Appellant’) being aggrieved by the order of the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Andhra Pradesh (hereinafter referred to as the ‘State Commission’) in Complaint No.CD/31/1995 decided in favour of Pemmadi Narasimha Murthy, Respondent herein.

2. The facts of the case are that the Respondent/Complainant in the year 1998 had secured a loan from M/s Deepa Financial Pvt. Ltd. to get a boat constructed from private boat builders, and the same was insured with Appellant/Insurance Company for Rs.7 lakhs on 09.12.1991 with the provision of continuous renewal of the policy. The boat was being used by the Respondent for fishing operations between Kakinada and Vishakhapatnam. On 09.09.1992 after ensuring that the boat was in working order and after loading it with the required amenities including diesel oil, ice, ration etc., Respondent sent the boat for fishing at 2.00 a.m. towards Vodlarum. While the crew was fishing in the Masanitippa area, the Captain of the boat noticed that the boat was taking jolts and on checking, the crew found that the inner compartm