A surveyor's report is a critical document in insurance claim settlements; it carries significant weight and cannot be discarded without valid, compelling reasons, particularly when the insured's own financial documentation is found to be unreliable or inconsistent with physical evidence.

ORDER

DR. SUDHIR KUMAR JAIN, J.

1. Briefly stated relevant facts of the case are that the appellant no 1/the complainant no 1/M/s. MBR Trading Company (hereinafter referred to as “the appellant no 1”) was engaged in business of selling electronic goods since August, 2018. The appellant no 1 being engaged in the regular course of business maintained accounts pertaining to their commercial operations. The appellants obtained insurance coverage for their electronic goods from the respondent/the opposite party/The New India Assurance Company Ltd, (hereinafter referred to as “the respondent”) comprising a Burglary Policy and Standard Fire and Special Perils Policy which were effective from 24.09.2019 to 23.09.2020. A fire was broke out on 19.09.2020 at about 7.28 pm in the godown and office premises of the appellants when said premises were closed. The fire was extinguished by the Fire Brigade as duly recorded in the Fire Accident Report dated 24.02.2021. The incident was also reported to the concerned Police Station at Zirakpur whereupon a Daily Diary Report (DDR) was recorded on 23.09.2020. The incident was further reported to the respondent, which, in turn, appointed a Surveyor to assess the loss.

1.1 The appellants furnished requisite documents to the appointed Surveyor including a trading account reflecting the stock value as on the date of the incident at Rs.42,40,949.56/- which was duly attested by a Chartered Accountant, along with the balance sheet and the sale and purchase ledger up to 19.09.2020. The respondent without consideration of the documents and the physical stock inspection reflecting total stock damaged in the fire to the tune of Rs.42,40,949.56/- passed a claim of only Rs.10,92,274/. The Survey Report submitted by the Surveyor does not reflect a true and fair appreciation of the records and documents furnished by the appellants. The respondent accepted the Survey Report as conclusive and binding and relying solely upon the Survey Report offered a settlement of Rs.10,92,274/- against the actual loss sustained by the appellants amounting to Rs.42,40,949.56. The appellants being aggrieved filed the present consumer complaint under section 35 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 (hereinafter referred to as “the Act”) titled as MBR Trading Company & another V. The New India Assurance Company Limited bearing CC no 234/21 before U.T. Chandigarh State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (hereinafter referred to as “the State Commission”). The appellants prayed that the respondent be directed to pay Rs.42,40,949.56/- being the actual amount of loss suffered by them along with interest at 12% per annum from 19.09.2020 until realization besides Rs.5,00,000/- towards compensation for the harassment and mental agony caused to the appellants by the unreasonable delay settlement of the legitimate claim.

2. The respondent filed reply before the State Commission. The respondent, in the preliminary objections stated that the appellants have not disclosed the true facts about the loss assessed by the surveyor and the amount of loss was discussed with the appellants and the appellants gave a consent letter to the respondent. The respondent paid the claim after obtaining the consent letter dated 25.02.2021. The respondent on reply on merit admitted that the appellants obtained the Standard Fire & Special Peril Policy bearing no 35330111190100000272 for the period from 31.03.2020 to 31.03.2021 and stated that the surveyor and the appellants jointly taken inventory of the damaged stock but the appellants did not provide exact amount of loss item wise. The surveyor duly considered Annexure C-1 (colly) but said annexure did not enable ascertainment of the amount of loss or identification of the specific items damaged in the fire incident. The appellants submitted a claim bill of Rs. 41,81,024/- towards the loss of damaged stock which was based upon the closing stock figures appearing in the Trading Account but a significant variati