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g) Pendente lite and future interest at 24% p.a. from the date of complaint to date of payment.

5. The Appellant - Insurer, the opposite party - Respondent in the two complaints, resisted the said claims. It contended that the claim was not maintainable as none of the consignments were lost or damaged in transit. According to them, the investigation report of the surveyor disclosed that one Kumar Chaudhary was the common President of M/s. Overseas Container Lines Inc. (the shipping Agent) and M/s. Atlanta Rugs Inc. (the buyer) and that the said Kumar Chaudhary had admitted to the surveyors that the consignments had all been received by the buyer. If the buyer, having taken delivery of all the consignments, failed to pay the value of the consignments, such non-payment of price by the buyer or non-realisation of the price by the seller, will not be a maritime peril giving rise to a claim against the Insurer under a Marine Insurance Policy. When the insured consignments had been delivered to the buyer, it cannot be said that there is a loss of the consignments. The claims were repudiated on 4.3.1997. The reasons for repudiation were furnished to the complainants by the Insurer as also by the surveyors. There was thus no deficiency in service. It was also pointed out that when the goods are entrusted to a sea going vessel, a master bill of lading is issued by the vessel/shipping line showing the particulars of consignments and the names of the consignees and the said Master Bill of Lading was not part of the documents of title. The failure on the part of the complainants to take any action against the buyer and the manner in which the transactions were conducted, gave room for doubt that there has been a collusion between the complainants and the buyer to foist false claims against the insurer. The Insurer also prayed that the detailed reasons for repudiation given in its letter dated 4.3.1997 be read as part of its written statement. The relevant portions of the letter of repudiation are extracted below :

13. The Marine Insurance Act, 1963 governs the law relating to marine insurance. Section 3 defines marine insurance as under :

"3. Marine insurance defined.--A contract of marine insurance is an agreement whereby the insurer undertakes to indemnify the assured, in the manner and to the extent thereby agreed, against marine losses, that is to say, the losses incidental to marine adventure."

13.1) The term `marine adventure' is defined in section 2(d). The term `maritime peril' referred to in the definition of `marine adventure' is defined in section 2(e). The said two definitions are extracted below :

(d) "marine adventure" includes any adventure where -
(i) any insurable property is exposed to maritime perils;
(ii) the earnings or acquisition of any freight, passage money, commission, profit or other pecuniary benefit, or the security for any advances, loans, or disbursements is endangered by the exposure or insurable property to maritime perils;
(iii) any liability to a third party may be incurred by the owner of, or other persons interested in or responsible for, insurable property by reason of maritime perils;
(e) "maritime perils" means the perils consequent on, or incidental to, the navigation of the sea, that is to say, perils of the seas, fire, war perils, pirates, rovers, thieves, captures, seizures, restraints and detainments of princes and people, jettisons, barratry and any other perils which are either of the like kind or may be designated by the policy;"
13.2) Section 4 makes it clear that a contract of marine insurance may, by its express terms, or by usage of trade, be extended so as to protect the assured against losses on inland waters or on any land risk which may be incidental to any sea voyage. The provisions of Marine Insurance Act are therefore subject to the terms of the policy of insurance. 13.3) Section 57 provides that where the subject matter insured is destroyed, or so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured, or where the assured is irretrievably deprived thereof, there is an actual total loss.