HYDERABAD: The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum II, Hyderabad, imposed a penalty of Rs 50,000 on Tata AIA Life Insurance Co. Ltd., (formerly TATA AIG Life Insurance Company Limited), on Saturday, for causing hardship and mental agony to a policyholder. The forum also directed the company to pay Rs 10,000 towards cost of litigation. In 2012, a representative of Tata AIA Life Insurance Co. Ltd approached CB Rajendra Prasad, a 60-year-old resident of Srinagar Colony, with a lucrative one-time investment proposal.
He was promised he would be entitled for medical benefits. Prasad invested Rs 2 lakh in the company, and nominated his son to claim the policy money after his death. However, the insurance company generated the policy under Prasad son’s name citing his old age. What shocked him more was that they allegedly forged his son’s signature, as given in the passport that was submitted as an ID proof.
He immediately rung up the insurance company and asked them to return the policy and refund the amount. The company told him that necessary steps would be taken and urged him to retain the policy. When the company failed to do the needful, Prasad approached the consumer forum.
The forum found fault with the company after a thorough examination of the facts of the case. Quoting the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) guidelines, the forum said, “An insurer may be held liable for an agent’s error in processing an insurer’s request for coverage, but the insurer may then have a right to seek indemnification from the agent.”