IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

CIVIL APPEAL NO. 2647 OF 2022

CHUBB EUROPEAN GROUP SE & ANR. Appellant(s)

VERSUS

NATIONAL INSURANCE CO. LTD. & ANR. Respondent(s)

O R D E R

By the impugned order, the National Consumer Disputes

Redressal Commission has purported to find no force in the

preliminary objections which have been raised by the

appellants and rejected the same.

The preliminary

objections which are seen dealt with by the NCDRC are:

(1) The question as to whether the first respondent is

a consumer under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.

(2) As to whether the claim of the respondent in

question is barred by limitation.

After hearing Shri K. V. Vishwanathan, learned senior

counsel for the appellants and Shri Joy Basu, learned senior

counsel appearing on behalf of the respondent, we are of the

view that we need not go into the questions which have been

raised in this appeal against the impugned order. We

reserve the right of the appellants to challenge the

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Digitally signed by

Nidhi Ahuja

Date: 2022.04.16

13:35:44 IST

Reason:

Signature Not Verified

CIVIL APPEAL NO. 2647 OF 2022

impugned order after the disposal of the complaint itself.

At the same time, we see merit in the contention of the

appellants that the question as to whether the present

complaint is one which should be dealt with by the Consumer

Forum, having regard to the nature of the case and the

procedure which is adopted under the Consumer Protection

Act, 1986 which is summary must be gone into. Accordingly,

we pass the following order:

We leave open right of the appellants to challenge the

impugned order if it becomes necessary after the disposal of

the Consumer Case No. 1/2010. We further leave it open to

the appellants to raise the question which is found at iii

as the preliminary issue at page 141 of the Civil Appeal

paper book. Necessarily the Commission must deal with the

said issue. The Commission will necessarily go into the

preliminary Issue No. iii as prayed at page 141 as a

preliminary issue.

The appeal is disposed of in the above terms.

……………………………………………………………………………., J.

[ K.M. JOSEPH ]

……………………………………………………………………………., J.

[ HRISHIKESH ROY ]

New Delhi;

April 11, 2022.

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CIVIL APPEAL NO. 2647 OF 2022

ITEM NO.17 COURT NO.10 SECTION XVII-A

S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A

RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS

Civil Appeal No. 2647/2022

CHUBB EUROPEAN GROUP SE & ANR. Appellant(s)

VERSUS

NATIONAL INSURANCE CO. LTD. & ANR. Respondent(s)

(With IA No.49271/2022-EXEMPTION FROM FILING C/C OF THE IMPUGNED

JUDGMENT and IA No.49270/2022-CLARIFICATION/DIRECTION)

Date : 11-04-2022 This appeal was called on for hearing today.

CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE K.M. JOSEPH

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE HRISHIKESH ROY

For Appellant(s)

Mr. K. V. Vishwanathan, Sr. Adv.

Ms. Diya Kapur, Adv.

Ms. Liz Mathew, AOR

Ms. Bhagya K. Yadav, Adv.

Mr. Navneet R., Adv.

Ms. Vasudha Jain, Adv.

For Respondent(s)

Mr. Joy Basu, Sr. Adv.

Mr. Saurav Agarwal, Adv.

Mr. Kanak Bose, Adv.

Mr. Akash Roy, Adv.

Ms. Lovina Rupia, Adv.

Mr. Divya Hirawat, Adv.

Mr. Vinay Kumar Misra, AOR

UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following

O R D E R

The appeal is disposed of in terms of the signed

order.

Pending applications stand disposed of.

(NIDHI AHUJA) (RENU KAPOOR)

AR-cum-PS BRANCH OFFICER

[Signed order is placed on the file.]

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