The main legal point established in the judgment is that the transferee must follow the necessary procedure for transfer of insurance policy within 14 days from the date of transfer to have insurable interest in the vehicle.

ORDER :

Anil Srivastava, Member-Aggrieved by the order passed by the Consumer Disputes Forum-VI, in CC-1036/09 in the matter of Sh. Sharwan Goyal and Another v. Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Co. Ltd., directing the Insurance Company to pay a sum of Rs. 38,000 along with interest @ 9% p.a from the date of claim to realization, the Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company has filed this appeal before this Commission, for short appellant under Section 15 of the Consumer Protection Act 1986, (the Act) against Sharwan Goyal and another hereinafter referred to as respondents alleging that the orders passed by the District Forum are erroneous and praying for setting aside the said order.

2. Facts of the case necessary for the adjudication of the appeal are these.

3. Sh. Sharwan Goyal owner of Maruti 800 bearing No. HR 36 D 5391 had the vehicle insured from the appellant Insurance Company vide No. OG-09-1104-1801-00011348 valid for the period from 9.6.2008 to 8.6.2009. However the said vehicle was stolen on 4.8.2009 while it was in possession of the respondent No.-2. Intimation in respect of the vehicle having been stolen was sent to the Police Authority. FIR was also lodged by the Mr. Rajesh Kumar, respondent No.-2 who had purchased the vehicle. Till then however, the vehicle remained in the name of the original buyer. It was not transferred in the name of Sh. Rajesh Kumar.\

4. The complaint was filed before the District Forum against the Insurance Company for the indemnification of the loss due to theft of the car. The District Forum allowed the complaint, leading to filing of this appeal before this Commission on the ground that the judgment impugned is contrary to law and facts and, secondly, the name not having been transferred, there is no privity of contract between respondent No. 2 and the Insurance Company. Finally reliance of respondent No. 2 on the provision of Section 157 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 in the given case is misplaced since the said provision is with respect to third party, which is not the subject matter.

5. The respondents were noticed and they had put in appearance but they have not filed reply despite sufficient opportunities having been afforded. This matter was listed before this Commission for final hearing on 8.3.2019 when the ld. Counsel for the appellant appeared and advanced his arguments. The respondents made no appearance despite the matter having been called out twice. I have perused the records of the case.

6. Short question for adjudication in this appeal is whether the impugned order suffers from any infirmity calling for interference by this Commission. The argument of the learned Counsel for the appellant is that they had contested the complaint before the District Forum relying on GR 17 of the Indian Motor Tariff Regulations but there is no finding by the Forum on their argument to this effect. It is therefore necessary to have a look at GR 17 (supra) reproduced as under:

On transfer of ownership, the Liability Only cover, either under a Liability Only policy or under a Package policy, is deemed to have been transferred in favour of the person to whom the motor vehicle is transferred with effect from the date of transfer.

The transferee shall apply within fourteen days from the date of transfer in writing under recorded delivery to the insurer who has insured the vehicle, with the details of the registration of the vehicle, the date of transfer of the vehicle, the previous owner of the vehicle and the number and date of the insurance policy so that the insurer may make the necessary changes in his record and issue fresh Certificate of Insurance.

In case of Package Policies, transfer of the “Own Damage” Section of the policy in favour of the transferee, shall be made by the insurer only on receipt of a specific request from the transferee along with consent of the transferee. If the transferee is not entitled to the benefit of the No Claim Bonus (NCB) shown on the policy, or is entitled to a less