STATE CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION, PUNJAB, CHANDIGARH.

Date of institution : 25.04.2023 Reserved on : 29.04.2024 Date of Decision : 23.05.2024 United India Insurance Co. Ltd., Divisional Office – III, earlier at Gulmohar Hotel Ferozepur Road, Ludhiana and now shifted to 2^nd Floor, Batra Plaza Building, Opposite Silver Arc Mall, Ferozepur Road, Ludhiana through its Senior Divisional Manager through its Regional Office i.e. United India Insurance Company, Legal Department, 108, Surya Towers, 3^rd Floor, Mall Road, Ludhiana 141001 through Sanjeev Kumar, Assistant Manager, United India Insurance Company Limited ….Appellant/Opposite Party Versus M/s Parveen Knitwears Regd., B-XXIV-2727, Sunder Nagar, Ludhiana through its Partner Shri Nem Chand Jain .…Respondent/Complainant First Appeal under Section 41 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 against the order dated 14.02.2023 passed by the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Ludhiana. Quorum:-

Hon’ble Mrs. Justice Daya Chaudhary, President Ms. Simarjot Kaur, Member

1) Whether Reporters of the Newspapers may be allowed to see the Judgment? Yes/No

2) To be referred to the Reporters or not? Yes/No 3) Whether judgment should be reported in the Digest? Yes/No Present:-

For the appellant : Sh. Munish Goel, Advocate For the respondent : Sh. Sahil Abhi, Advocate SIMARJOT KAUR, MEMBER :

Appellant/Opposite Party i.e. United India Ins. Co. Ltd.

has filed the present appeal through its Senior Divisional Manager to challenge the impugned order dated 14.02.2023 passed by the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Ludhiana (in short, “the District Commission”), whereby the Complaint filed by the Respondent/Complainant-M/s Parveen Knitwears has been partly allowed.

2. It would be apposite to mention here that hereinafter the parties will be referred, as were arrayed before the District Commission.

3. Briefly, the facts of the case as made out by the Respondent/Complainant in the Complaint filed before the District Commission are that M/s Parveen Knitwears, Ludhiana was a partnership concern, running the business of hosiery goods and knitted clothes. To secure the goods in transit during Transportation, they had purchased Marine Cargo Open Policy bearing No. 2009002115P109460078, which was valid for the period 09.11.2015 to 08.11.2016. He had paid premium of Rs.2,851/- to cover the risk for a sum assured of Rs.50 lakh. The Complainant had enhanced the coverage from Rs.50 Lakh to Rs.1 Crore by paying an additional premium of Rs.2,876/- on 18.07.2016 covering the risk for the period 18.07.2016 to 08.11.2016. As per the said policy, the coverage of every consignment sent through road and rail from Ludhiana to anywhere in India, was limited to the value of Rs.20,00,000/- in one go. Under the said policy, all types of hosiery goods and/or knitted cloth and/or all types of yarn & or all other material of similar nature connected with trade was covered. The Complainant had also submitted monthly declaration to the OP of the despatched goods/consignments sent during every month. During the subsistence of policy, the Complainant had despatched three consignments vide Bill No. 105 dated 18.10.2016 of Rs.4,25,976/-, Bill No. 107 dated 19.10.2016 of Rs.5,72,306/- and Bill No. 109 dated 19.10.2016 of Rs.4,27,121/- through M/s Viveka Logistics Solutions Pvt. Ltd. to M/s Mahalakshmi Knitwear, Tripur. However, when the said consignments were lying in the godown of said Transporter, there was an incident of fire during the night of 23.10.2016 and the goods lying in said premises were completely damaged. The Complainant had lodged its claim with M/s Viveka Logistics Solutions Pvt. Ltd.-Transporter, who had issued certificate dated 08.05.2017, confirming that the goods despatched vide GR No.1089029, 1087984 and 1087985 dated 19.10.2016 by the Complainant had been damaged in the fire. Thereafter, the Complainant had lodged the claim with the OP-Insurance Co. vide email dated 27.10.2016. M/s Dugga