THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: For Deng Xiaoping, the colour of the cat didn’t matter as long as it caught mice. Sathyaraj of Manchavilakom, Neyyattinkara, would beg to differ with the Chinese leader. Colour, he would say, matters a lot.
It was the colour of his cow, rather his two cows, that dragged Sathyaraj to court. Sathyaraj owned two cows, a black one and a brown one. Both were insured by the United India Assurance company for Rs 10,000.
One fine day, it became obvious that the black cow was barren. And no amount of treatment proved fruitful.
Sathyaraj reported the matter to the insurance company and asked for their permission to sell off the cow. Insurance officials arrived and took photographs of the said cow, and granted him permission to sell the cow, which he did.
But insurance officials made a blunder. The real drama starts from this moment. Insurance officials, by mistake, marked the colour of cow as brown. The veterinary doctor also erroneously certified the colour as brown. This led to the insurance company denying Sathyaraj the compensation.
Sathyaraj filed a complaint before the Consumer Redressal Forum through the Consumer Vigilance Centre. The vet who had examined the cow deposed before the forum.
In its order, the forum ruled that the Sathyaraj should be paid ` 12,500 within a month. This includes 75 per cent of the insurance amount (` 7,500) plus ` 3,000 as compensation and ` 2,000 as expenses, Consumer Vigilance Centre general secretary A Ayyappan Nair said in a statement.
So the next time somebody asks you what’s in a colour, remember Sathyaraj’s cow.