t..HGFEDCBA IN THE NATIONAL CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION AT NEW DELHI (Against the order dated 29.11.2024 in First Appeal No. 502/2023 of the Andhra Pradesh State Consum er Disputes Redressal Com m ission, Vijayawada)

W ITH NC/IA/13434/2025 NC/IA/14187/2025 (STAY AND CONDONATION OF DELAY)

C holam andalam M S G eneral Insurance C o. Ltd. A ppellant Versus M . R ajesh R espondent BEFORE:

HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE A.P. SAHI, PRESIDENT HON’BLE MR. BHARATKUMAR PANDYA, MEMBER For Appellant M s. N iyati Jadaun, A dvocate Dated: 16.01.2026

ORDER

1.

The Insurance C om pany resisted the com plaint of the respondent - C C No. 153/2020 filed before the D C D R C , Kurnool, A ndhra Pradesh, w hereas the com plainant alleged that he w as entitled to the entire loss of the claim of his lorry bearing registration no. A P 21TE 1729 that w as insured w ith the A ppellant under a policy under a declared value of Rs. 30 lakhs for the period from

15.06.2019 to 14.06.2020.

2. The contention is that the vehicle caught fire at about 2.30am in the night of 7th / 8th of Septem ber, 2019 w hile the lorry w as proceeding at a place w hich fell w ithin the jurisdiction of Tripuranthakam Police Station. The com plainant alleged that it w as due to som e electric short circuit resulting in burning of flam es.

3. A police com plaint w as lodged giving rise to crim e no. 130/2019 registered at the sam e police station. The spot surveyor cam e to visit the site on 09.09.2019 and after a final survey w as conducted a suspicion arose about the nature of the accident. C onsequently the appellant approached M /s. Satyadev Labs Pvt. Ltd. engaging the services of one Dr. P.S.N . R eddy for carrying out a forensic investigation of the vehicle. A report w as subm itted on 23.10.2019 and the copy of the forensic report has been brought on record of this appeal vide a docum ent com pilation through D iary N o. 929 dated 13.01.2026. The report is in detail w ith 19 photographs and a rough sketch of the vehicle. O n a physical evidence and analysis, the said report suggested absence of a short-circuit failure and observed that there w ere som e abnorm al or unnatural burn patterns on the basis w hereof it w as presum ed that the fire could have been caused by the pouring of ignitable fire accelerant diesel on the cable of the vehicle. In fact the suggestion appears to be that it w as not an accidental fire.

4. O n the basis of the said report, the Insurance C om pany repudiated the claim on 29.01.2020.

5. Accordingly, the com plaint w as filed before the D C D R C on 12.10.2020 after the enforcem ent of the C onsum er Protection Act, 2019. The D istrict C om m ission cam e to the conclusion that the evidence w ith regard to the accident, the lodging of the police report and the availing of the fire services indicate that by the tim e attem pts could be m ade to extinguish the fire, the entire vehicle had been gutted. The fire accident certificates indicated that the fire w as m edium and the photographs w ith regard to the burnt lorry indicated that it had com pletely burnt. The D istrict C om m ission also relied on a new spaper that indicated the cause of fire as short-circuit and accordingly the com plaint w as allow ed assessing the loss at 75% of the ID V on non-standard basis w ith a direction to pay R s. 22,50,000/- together w ith 6% interest per annum from the date of accident to the date of realisation. R s. 10,000/- w as also aw arded as cost of com pensation and Rs. 5,000/- as costs.

6. The Insurance C om pany filed F.A. No. 502/2023 and the State C om m ission vide an order dated 29.11.2024 dism issed the appeal accordingly. All the grounds taken in the appeal from ground no. 5(a) to (m ), all relate to the m erits explaining the delay as the State C om m ission dism issed the appeal on the ground that there w as a delay of 172 days in preferring the appeal.

7. The present appeal under Section 51(2) w as preferred treating the delay in the filing of this appeal of 2