The court ruled that an insurance claim cannot be repudiated on misinterpretations of theft and abandonment, emphasizing the need for valid grounds for repudiation.

JUDGMENT :

Manish Choudhury, J.

1. The instant writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India is preferred seeking inter alia a direction to the respondent Insurance Company to satisfy the claim in respect of an insurance policy which the petitioner as the insured had taken in respect of a vehicle. The petitioner has approached this Court after the Insurance Ombudsman, Guwahati Centre had rejected a complaint preferred by the petitioner as the complainant before it, by an Order dated 03.09.2013.

2. The relevant events which have led the petitioner to prefer the writ petition can be narrated, in brief, as follows :-

2.1. The petitioner purchased a four-wheeler vehicle [Tata Indica Car] in the year 2006 with financial assistance from M/s. HDFC Bank. The vehicle having Chassis no. 600132GTZPA8167 and Engine no. 4751D105GTZPA-3332, was registered with the District Transport Officer [Registration & Licencing], Kamrup, Guwahati with Registration no. AS-01/AA-5744 ['the subject-vehicle', for short]. The petitioner was plying the subject-vehicle as a commercial vehicle after obtaining a Tourist Cab Permit from the State Transport Authority, Assam, Guwahati with validity w.e.f. 13.09.2006 to 05.09.2011. The subject-vehicle was also insured under a Commercial Vehicles Package Policy [Passenger Carrying Commercial Vehicle] bearing Policy no. 321105/7/588/31/2007/1020 for the period from 31.08.2006 to 30.08.2007 [the Insurance Policy] from the respondent Insurance Company ['the Insurer' and/or 'the Insurance Company', for short].

2.2. The case of the petitioner is that on 14.10.2006, the subject-vehicle was hired at Guwahati by some passengers by contacting the driver for travelling to Nagaon. According to the petitioner, the driver engaged by the petitioner, Md. Alam Hussain after informing the petitioner that he was taking passengers to Nagaon on hire, proceeded for Nagaon. When the petitioner did not receive any information regarding whereabouts of the subject-vehicle as well as of the driver despite searches made for a few days, he had lodged a First Information Report [FIR] at the Paltan Bazar Police Station on 18.10.2006 stating about the same. The petitioner has also stated that the matter was also informed to the Insurer immediately. The FIR was registered as Paltanbazar Police Station Case no. 596/2006 for offences under Sections 392/342, Indian Penal Code [IPC].

2.3. After the matter was informed to the Insurer, the petitioner was asked to submit certain documents relating to the subject-vehicle. The petitioner has stated that there was some delay on his part to submit those documents as all documents were inside the subject-vehicle at the time it was hired on 14.10.2006. As the documents like Certificate of Registration, Fitness Certificate, Permit, etc. in original were inside the subject-vehicle, the petitioner had obtained duplicate copies of those documents, wherever possible, from the concerned authorities in order to submit the same before the Insurer and in the process, some delay occurred in submission of those documents.

2.4. According to the petitioner, the Branch Manager, Athgaon Branch of the Insurance Company, vide a Letter dated 11.07.2007 asked to the petitioner to submit the final police report. The petitioner had after submission of the Final Report by the Investigating Officer of the case before the Court, had obtained a copy of the said Final Report and submitted the same along with other documents relating to the subject-vehicle and the keys of the subject-vehicle to the Insurer on 26.03.2010. Thereafter when repeated approaches to the Insurer did not result in satisfaction of the claim by the Insurer, he had submitted a representation on 04.08.2010. Thereafter, he had approached the Insurance Ombudsman, Guwahati Centre on 08.04.2011 by submitting a complaint. The complaint was admitted by the Insurance Ombudsman under Rule 12[1][e] of the Redressal of Public Grievances [RPG] Rules, 1998 and registere