IMPORTANT POINT
Surveyor’s report - The surveyors are appointed under the Insurance Act and their report cannot be brushed aside, without any cogent reasons.

ORDER

Huluvadi G. Ramesh, President—This is an appeal filed U/s. 15 of CPA 1986 by OP/Appellant aggrieved by the order dtd.28.10.2017 passed in CC/63/2016 on the file of Gadag District Forum.

2. The Commission examined the grounds of appeal, impugned order, appeal papers and heard the learned counsels.

3. The facts are, as the accident occurred to the insured vehicle namely the tipper; made a claim for damages to OP; got repaired the said vehicle as per the instructions of OP’s surveyor; are not in dispute. When OP paid only part of actual damages, consumer complaint came to be raised before the Forum below, wherein, OP contested the matter contending that the claim settled as per the report of its surveyor. Forum below enquired into the matter and allowed the complaint in part directing OP to pay the balance amount along with cost and compensation of Rs.12,000/-. Aggrieved by this order, OP come with this appeal, on the ground that the Forum below grossly erred in allowing the complaint by not considering the assessment report of the surveyor.

4. It is found from the impugned order at ink page no. 12, para 5, wherein Commission below recorded its findings as: initially surveyor submits the estimation for the damages caused to the vehicle at Rs.4,80,437/- and later settled only for Rs.1,35,255/- as per final report and in this regard while cross examination by counsel for the Complainant, he had not given valid answer. Further, held the OP deficient in service, since, he had not taken consent Appeal No.11/2018 from the Complainant while settling said amount. This view of the District Forum is not justified, since the surveyors are appointed under the Insurance Act and their report cannot be brushed aside, without any cogent reasons. In fact, surveyor’s report is the main document on which the insurance claim to be settled in accordance with the terms and conditions of the policy, since they are to be appointed to assess the actual loss sustained by the vehicle. Hence without any reasons, the surveyor’s report cannot be discarded. Since the OP/Insurance Company has already paid as per the loss assessed by the surveyor, nothing remains due to pay the complainant. With such conclusion, we proceed to allow this appeal. Consequently set aside the order dtd.28.10.2017 passed in CC/63/2016 on the file of Gadag District Forum and as a result dismissed the complaint with no order as to cost.

5. The amount in deposit is directed to be transferred to the District Commission for needful.

6. Notify copy of this Order to the District Commission and parties.