ADDITIONAL BENCH STATE CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION, PUNJAB, CHANDIGARH Date of Institution : 20.06.2022 Date of Reserve : 27.02.2026 Date of Decision : 01.04.2026 M/s Jugal Kishore and Company # 61, Bathinda Barnala Road, Village Ghunas, Tehsil Tapa, District Barnala, through its Proprietor Vijay Kumar son of Sohan Lal, resident of House No.BIII/779, Near Purana Cinema, Barnala, District Barnala.

….Appellant/complainant Versus

1. Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company Ltd., Sandhu Tower, 5^th Floor, Gurdev Nagar, Ferozepur Road, Ludhaina-

141001, through its Branch Manager.

2. Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company Ltd., Head Office at GE Plaza, Airport Road, Yerawada, Pune-411006, through its Authorized Signatory.

….Respondents/Opposite parties First Appeal under Section 41 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 against the order dated 28.04.2022 of the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Barnala.

Quorum:-

Mr.Harinderpal Singh Mahal, Presiding Judicial Member Mrs.Kiran Sibal, Member Present:-

For the appellant : Sh.Kuldeep Singh, Advocate for Sh.Pankaj Garg, Advocate For the respondent : Sh.Punit Jain, Advocate HARINDERPAL SINGH MAHAL, PRESIDING JUDICIAL MEMBER This appeal has been preferred by the appellant/complainant- M/s Jugal Kishore & Company against the order dated 28.04.2022 passed by District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Barnala (in short ‘District Commission’), whereby the complaint filed by the complainant under Section 35 of the Consumer Protection Act (in short ‘the Act’) was dismissed.

It would be apposite to mention that hereinafter the parties will be referred, as have been arrayed before the District Commission.

2. Briefly stated facts of the complaint are that the complainant is running an Edible Oil Cooking Medium & Lite Ghee manufacturing unit at Village Ghunas, Tehsil Tapa, District Barnala under the name and style of M/s Jugal Kishore & Company. Sh.Vijay Kumar is the sole proprietor of the said Company. The complainant purchased a policy bearing No.09093716400100000020 from opposite party No.1, which was valid till 19.03.2020. On 23.06.2019, a fire broke out in the unit in which the raw material and finished goods i.e. edible oil, cooking medium, cotton seed etc. was totally destroyed and the building was also collapsed causing a loss about Rs.1 crore. The complainant immediately informed the Fire Department at Barnala and Police Station, Tapa as well as to the opposite parties. As the fire was huge it also broke out to the adjoining factory M/s J.K.Industries. The Fire Brigade controlled the fire. The complainant filed the claim along with all the relevant documents and bills to the opposite parties on 29.08.2019, vide which a total loss of Rs.99,66,000/- has been mentioned. Along with that a valuation report of the building conducted by M/s Space Architects dated 28.07.2019 as well as stock register was also submitted. The opposite parties appointed a surveyor namely M/s Protocol Insurance Surveyor & Loss Assessor Private Ltd., Noida for survey and to assess the loss. The report of the said surveyor was not provided. The interim report under the RTI was demanded by the complainant, vide letter dated 12.09.2020. Thereafter, an appeal was filed by the complainant on 19.10.2020 but to no effect. The said surveyor through email in December, 2019 offered the assessment of Rs.31,06,605/- to the complainant which was assessed on volumetric verification, whereas the loss as per the actual loss/assessment as per books was 77,08,241/-. The complainant was called to the office of the surveyor in Noida on 01.02.2020 and under pressured they obtained a new fire claim form from the complainant, vide which the total loss has wrongly been assessed as Rs.59,06,157/- and also got signature on pre- receipt claim discharge voucher and consent letter for Rs.55,47,146/-. It is submitted that the complainant suffered the loss of Rs.77,08,241/-, whereas the opposite parties has made the payment of Rs