HYDERABAD: The Telangana State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has dismissed an appeal by the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), upholding a Khammam District Commission order directing the insurer to pay Rs 2 lakh to complainant Jillapali Durggaiah, an agricultural labourer.
Durggaiah’s wife, Satyavathi, had taken a policy in 2014 which lapsed after two years but was revived in March 2017. She died in March 2019. LIC repudiated the claim, alleging she had concealed her cervical cancer history.
The Khammam forum in 2021 held LIC liable, noting its agent had issued the policy while she was under treatment at Basavatarakam Indo-American Cancer Hospital, and awarded Rs 8,000 as costs.
Rejecting LIC’s appeal, the State Commission, led by in-charge president Meena Ramanathan and judicial member VV Seshubabu, said the insurer could not “blow hot and cold” after knowingly issuing the policy. It criticised the practice of selling policies to critically ill patients and allowed the complainant to withdraw the deposited amount with interest.