The court established that a contract of insurance comes into being only after the insurer receives the premium in advance, and a policy is void ab-initio in case of dishonour of the premium cheque.

ORDER

U.V. Bakre, President.—By this Complaint filed under Section 12 of the Consumers Protection Act, 1986 (the "Act", for short), the Complainant has prayed to direct the Opposite Party (OP, for short) to pay to him the following amounts towards damages caused to him for negligence on the part of the OP:- (a) Rs. 1,00,000/- towards cost of return ticket to Goa; (b) Rs. 44,00,000/- for the loss and injury on account of deprivation of business opportunity and mental agony and potential liability towards compensation to the Overseas Associates of Mr. Sudhir Gude; (c) Rs. 50,00,000/- for loss of reputation and business opportunity (together with interest @ 18% p.a. till the date of actual payment); and (d) Rs. 2,000/- towards cost of the notice.

2. Case of the Complainant, in short, is as follows:

The Complainant is the customer of the OP which is a nationalised bank. The Complainant holds Account No. 100710100017119. The Complainant is a reputed doctor having his own clinic and is also connected with various hospitals on scheduled visits arranged in advance. The Complainant needed to raise a substantial amount of investment funds to the tune of USD$ 25 million for his overseas venture in the Middle East. Therefore, he prepared his information memorandum and project report and approached Mr. Sudhir Gude, a financial consultant to obtain the required investment sometime in June 2014. In this regard, the Complainant had a number of meetings with Mr. Sudhir Gude and thereafter Mr. Sudhir Gude sent his final proposal to his overseas associates as the cost of funds is better than India. The project funding was approved in principle and therefore a final meeting to negotiate the terms and conditions was arranged by Mr. Sudhir Gude in Paris on 28th January 2015. Accordingly, the Complainant arranged for his travel and purchased a travel insurance policy with benefits for USD$ 500,000 (knowing the cost of expenses in Europe in case of medical contingency) with a validity of one year as the Complainant was not certain of his return date. Towards the travel insurance policy, the Complainant issued a cheque bearing No. 146658 drawn on Panaji Branch of the OP for a sum of Rs. 5724/- to Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company Limited and in turn the said insurance company issued to the Complainant a policy bearing No. 0Q-15-1703-9910-00001481. The Complainant departed for Europe on 26th January, 2015 and arrived in Paris on the same day. The Complainant had to cancel a lot of pre-arranged appointments organized in his clinic as well as other hospitals for this visit to Europe. In the evening of 26th January, 2015, the wife of the Complainant informed him telephonically that someone from Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company Limited had phoned saying that the cheque issued for Rs. 5724/- had been dishonoured by the OP and consequently the policy was invalid. Upon hearing about the dishonour of the cheque, the Complainant was panicked as he was aware of the consequences of travelling without a travel insurance policy in terms of costs in Europe as well as the due diligence of his bonafides were based on a valid travel policy. The Complainant could not purchase a new travel policy at that time since such policy had to be purchased while still in India before departure. The Complainant had an apprehension that the visa would be revoked and he would have to face the consequences of being stopped at the airport for traveling on an illegal visa. Therefore, the Complainant immediately purchased the first available return ticket on an emergency basis for which he had to pay an amount of Rs. 1,00,000/- and returned to India on 27th January 2015 (early morning of 28th January, 2015) without attending the proposed meeting and organization of the required fund. Subsequently, the Complainant received written communication dated 30/01/2015 from Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company Limited officially informing to the Complainant that the Insurance Polic