Mumbai: Insurer to pay Rs10L interest to jeweller for stolen ring

Mumbai: A district consumer commission has directed Oriental Insurance to pay Rs10.91 lakh with 9% interest per annum (from Sept 2011 to the date of order) to a Jewelry firm, along with an additional Rs50,000 towards mental agony and litigation costs. The interest amount itself adds up to around Rs10 lakh. The order was passed on a complaint by M/s Maia against The Oriental Insurance Co Ltd.

Maia had taken a 'jewellers block insurance policy' for which it paid Rs51,272. In Sept 2009, two foreigners visited the showroom and since the salesman was not fluent in English, he called the manager. Meantime, one of the foreigners sought to know the cost of a ring which was relayed by typing it on a calculator. The foreigners said they would come back. However, the staff later noticed the ring was missing and filed an FIR. Maia then filed a claim with the insurance firm, providing a copy of the FIR and other details but failed to provide a CCTV clip.

Rejecting the claim, Oriental stated that Maia is a partnership firm with many branches and not a consumer. It said the company was taking benefit out of their own fault and that as per the stock, only two items were worth Rs1-1.25 lakh. It said there was no proof that the ring existed.

The commission said that in claiming money for something that is stolen, there is no commercial interest but it is a consumer. It said that as per the policy, it was not necessary that the complainant would have to install CCTV cameras or that the claim will not be considered if not installed. On the ring not being there, it said that proof was shown of it being in stock and of the diamonds used for it.