Iffco Tokio General Insurance Co. Ltd. vs Sai Constructions & Anr. on 1 November, 2019
12. I have carefully considered the arguments advanced by the learned counsel for the parties and examined the material on record. The decision of this Commission in the case of HDFC Ergo General Insurance Co. Ltd., vs Shri Bhagchand Saini son of Suvalal - 2014 SCC online NCDRC 874 decided on 04.12.2014, is applicable to the present case and I also agree that the issue of delay can be raised in the written statement and the same has been actually raised. Therefore, it needs to be examined by the consumer fora. If the owner was not available in India, nobody had stopped the driver or any authorised representative of the owner to lodge an FIR. Moreover, the driver of the truck has entered into an agreement with the driver of the other truck with which this truck had collided, clearly stating that as no loss of life has occurred, both the parties have agreed that there was no negligence on the part of any of the party to the accident. This type of agreement cannot give any basis to the insurance company to assume that there was no fault in the driving or there was no negligence in taking reasonable care of the vehicle as per condition no.5 of the policy. Thus, clearly the violation of condition no.5 of the policy cannot be ruled out. Clearly, there has been delay of 36 days in giving intimation to the insurance company and even the date of accident may be different than what has been told by the complainant. However, one thing is clear that when the vehicle was pre-inspected by the surveyor before the insurance, the vehicle was not an accidented vehicle. I don't find any force in the observation of the surveyor that the vehicle inspected after the accident was a different vehicle. The State Commission has rightly observed that as the engine and chassis numbers are the same, it cannot be said that a different vehicle was shown to the surveyor for inspection. The possibility of the accident prior to the commencement of the policy is ruled out because the vehicle was pre-inspected before the insurance and then the vehicle was not accidented, therefore, the vehicle must have met with an accident only after the commencement of the policy.