The Indian Express ·
Rs 100 premium delay costs SBI Rs 2 lakh after customer dies in road accident
The Uttarakhand State Consumer Commission was hearing SBI’s appeal against a district commission's order directing it to pay Rs 2 lakh to the family under the personal accident cover.
The Uttarakhand State Consumer Commission has held the State Bank of India (SBI) liable to pay Rs 2 lakh to the family of a customer who died in a motorcycle accident. The commission said the bank should have ensured continuation of his personal accident cover after the earlier policy expired on December 14, 2016. He died six days later, on December 20, and the bank deducted the Rs 100 premium for the next policy only on December 31.
Uttarakhand State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission president Kumkum Rani and member B S Manral were hearing an appeal filed by the SBI against an October 30, 2021 order of the District Consumer Commission, Uttarkashi, which had allowed a complaint filed by the family of late Raghuveer Singh and directed the bank to pay the personal accident cover with interest and other reliefs.
“The alleged delayed intimation of death of the deceased to the bank is not at all relevant in the present matter,” the commission said on September 15, holding that the premium ought to have been deducted when the earlier policy expired. It said the failure occurred due to “utter negligence on the part of the bank, be it a computer system error or otherwise”.
