STATE CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION, PUNJAB, CHANDIGARH.

Date of institution : 05.03.2025 Reserved on : 09.02.2026 Date of Decision : 19.02.2026 The Regional Manager, Regional Office, National Insurance Co. Ltd., Regional Office PMSBY Claim Hub, SCO 332-334, Sector 34-A, Chandigarh (UT).

….Appellant/Opposite Party No.1.

Versus

1. Rahul @ Rahil s/o Sarwan Singh r/o VPO Adamwal, Tehsil &

District Hoshiarpur (Punjab) 146001. ….…Respondent No.1/Complainant.

2. Manager, State Bank of India, Kanak Mandi Branch, Hoshiarpur

146001.

…….Respondent No.2/Opposite Party No.2.

First Appeal under Section 41 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 against the order dated 10.12.2024 passed by the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Hoshiarpur in CC No.463 of 2022.

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.G.S.Ahluwalia, Advocate For respondent No.1 : Sh.Kartik Gupta, Advocate For respondent No.2 : None SIMARJOT KAUR, MEMBER :

The Appellant/Opposite Party No.1 has filed the present Appeal to challenge the impugned order dated 10.12.2024 passed by the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Hoshiarpur (in short, “the District Commission”), whereby the Complaint filed by the Complainant had 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 Complainant in the Complaint filed before the District Commission are that Smt.Sukhwinder Kaur, late mother of the Complainant had her Savings Bank Account with the OP No.2 Bank. OP No.2 had issued her the PMSBY Policy with sum insured @ Rs.2.0 Lac by deducting an annual premium of Rs.12/- from her account. The Complainant was the nominee in the said PMSBY. On 11.10.2021, late Smt.Sukhwinder Kaur, the insured had accidentally consumed an expired medicine at her home and breathed her last on the same day. The incident was reported to the Police Station Sadar. The proceeding u/s 174 Cr.P.C. was initiated. The statements of the various relatives of the deceased as well as of Lambardar Satvir Singh were recorded. The Post-Mortem was conducted at the local Govt. Hospital. In due course of time, Complainant being nominee of Late Sukhwinder Kaur had filed death claim along with all the requisite documents with OP No.1- Insurer. The Complainant had followed-up with OP No.1 on regular basis vide telephonic calls/ personal visits. The Complainant had served a legal notice upon OPs to make the payment of the maturity amount of Rs.2,00,000/-, as per the Policy along with interest and compensation. The said notice was replied by OP No.1 through email by giving false reason that the final opinion/chemical examination report of the deceased had not been received from OP No.2. In the absence of any report regarding exact cause of death, they were unable to process the case further. Hence, the Complaint was filed by the Complainant with the prayer to issue directions to the OPs to pay an amount of Rs.2,00,000/- as maturity amount of the policy in dispute along with Rs.50,000/- as compensation on account of mental tension, agony and harassment and to pay an amount of Rs.20,000/- as cost of litigation.

4. Upon issuance of notice of the Complaint, the OP No.1 had appeared and filed the written version by raising certain preliminary objections. It was alleged that Smt.Sukhwinder Kaur @ Satwinder Kaur had died by consuming poisonous substance which amounts to suicide. Thus, no claim was payable on account of her coverage under Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojna (PMSBY). The death by way of suicide was not covered under the said scheme. Therefore, the claim was rightly repudiated. On merits, it was denied tha