2025 INSC 154
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
DIVISION BENCH
SHRI BINOD KUMAR SINGH — Appellant
Vs.
NATIONAL INSURANCE COMPANY LTD. — Respondent
( Before : B.V. Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma, JJ. )
Civil Appeal No. ….of 2025 [Arising out of SLP (Civil) No. 13060 of 2020]
Decided on : 07-02-2025
An insurance claim cannot be denied if a National Permit was valid at the time of the incident, especially if the authorization fee was not required because the vehicle was operating within its state of registration
Consumer Law — Repudiation of Claim — National Permit —Appellant’s truck, insured with National Insurance Company Ltd, caught fire due to a short circuit during the insurance period — The insurer rejected the claim, citing an invalid National Permit due to unpaid authorization fees — The Supreme Court ruled that the National Permit was valid until 13.10.2017, and the authorization fee was only required for interstate operations — Since the fire occurred within Bihar, the fee was unnecessary — The Court distinguished this case from Amrit Paul Singh vs. TATA AIG General Insurance Co. Ltd., overturned the National Commission’s decision, and directed the insurer to process the claim with 9% annual interest from the complaint date, stating the claim was wrongly denied.
Cases Relied Upon: The State Commission initially placed reliance on the judgment in National Insurance Company vs. Nitin Khandelwal (Criminal Appeal No. 8463/2014).
Cases Distinguished: The Supreme Court distinguished the present case from Amrit Paul Singh and Anr. vs. TATA AIG General Insurance Co. Ltd. & Ors. (2018) 7 SCC 558.
Counsel for Appearing Parties
Mr. Neeraj Shekhar, Advocate, Mr. Rajesh Kumar Maurya, Advocate, Mrs. Kshama Sharma, Advocate, Mr. Anand Krishna, Advocate, Mr. Amrendra Singh, Advocate, Mr. Ram Bachan Choudhary, Advocate and Mr. Ujjwal Ashutosh, Advocate, for the Appellant; Mr. Amit Kumar Singh, Advocate, Ms. K Enatoli Sema, Advocate, Ms. Chubalemla Chang, Advocate and Mr. Prang Newmai, Advocate, for the Respondent.
JUDGMENT
Satish Chandra Sharma, J. – Leave Granted.
2. The present appeal is arising out of order dated 19.08.2020 passed by National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, New Delhi, (for short, “the National Commission”) in First Appeal No. 1778 of 2017 .
3. The facts of the case reveal that the appellant before this Court is the owner of Truck bearing registration No. BR-02-Q9220 make TATA-251625.0LPKTC. The truck was insured with the respondent National Insurance Company for a period of one year i.e. from 18.09.2013 to the midnight of 17.09.2014 and unfortunately, the truck caught fire on account of short-circuit on 08.06.2014 meaning thereby during the validity of insurance cover.
4. The appellant preferred a complaint before the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Bihar, Patna (for short, “the State Commission”) and the State Commission placing reliance on the judgment delivered in the case of National Insurance Company Vs. Nitin Khandelwal (Criminal Appeal No. 8463/2014) directed the respondent insurance company to settle the claim on non-standard basis within a period of three months if other requirements were fulfilled by the appellant.
5. The respondent National Insurance Company being aggrieved by the order passed by the State Commission dated 07.07.2017 preferred an appeal before the National Commission and the National Commission has allowed the appeal holding that the judgment delivered by this Court in the case of Nitin Khandelwal (supra) does not help the appellant as it was a theft case whereas the present case relates to damage by fire. The National Commission after placing reliance upon the judgment delivered in the case of Amrit Paul Singh and Anr. Vs. TATA AIG General Insurance Co. Ltd. & Ors. (2018) 7 SCC 558 has allowed the appeal and held that the insurance claim cannot be allowed in the absence of any valid permit thereby setting aside the order passed by the State Commission.
6. Learned counsel for the appellant has vehemently argued before this Court that the All India Permit (National Permit) was issued having validity period with effect from 14.10.2012 to 13.10.2017 and for State of Bihar, the permit was in force from 13.10.2012 to 13.10.2013 meaning thereby, on the date the truck caught fire on 08.06.2014, there was a valid National Permit in existence.
7. Learned counsel for the respondent National Insurance Company has vehemently argued before this Court that as per the terms and conditions of the permit, the fee was deposited for a period with effect from 13.10.2012 to 13.10.2017 and the authorization fee was not deposited beyond 14.10.2013 and, therefore, and in the absence of non-depositing of authorization fee, National Permit cannot be said to be a valid permit.
8. This Court has carefully gone through the permit which is on record and the National Permit is certainly valid up to 13.10.2017. The authorization fee was required to be paid only when the truck was moving out of State of Bihar as it was registered in the State of Bihar and the truck caught fire on account of short-circuit on 08.06.2014 in the State of Bihar itself and, therefore, the respondent company could not have repudiated the claim on such a frivolous ground. The permit in question was issued by the competent authority in Bihar and, therefore, there was no requirement of paying authorization fee when the truck was being used in the State of Bihar and as per the terms and conditions of the National Permit, authorization fee was required to be paid only when the truck was moving out of State of Bihar. Thus, in the considered opinion of this Court, the appellant was certainly entitled for the insurance claim as held by the State Commission and, therefore, the order passed by the National Commission, dated 19.08.2020, deserves to be set aside and is accordingly set aside. The respondent National Insurance Company is directed to process the claim of the appellant and to pay the amount to the appellant within a period of 60 days from today. It is needless to mention that the claim became due in the year 2014 and it was repudiated by the respondent National Insurance Company in the year 2014 itself. The order of the State Commission allowing the claim was passed in the year 2017 which was reversed by the National Commission in the year 2020. Therefore, in the considered opinion of this Court, the appellant was not only entitled for the entire claim amount right from the date it became due but he is also entitled for interest from the date of the complaint made before State Commission till the date, the amount is actually paid to him. The appellant shall be entitled to interest @ 9% per annum and the same with the proposed amount be paid positively within 60 days from today.
9. With the aforesaid, the appeal stands allowed. No orders as to costs. Pending applications, if any, shall stand disposed of.