By Adv. Jatin Ramaiya
A bench of the Goa State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, comprising of its president Justice (Retd) Bakre and senior member Jagdish Prabhudesai, partly set aside an order passed by Consumer Forum, South Goa in favour of Royal Cloth and Tailors, Margao directing the New India Assurance Co. to a pay a total sum of Rs 15 lakh along with interest to the proprietor of M/s Royal Cloth and Tailors, Margao.
The proprietor of Royal Cloth and Tailors approached the South Goa District Forum, complaining that his insurance claim was erroneously rejected by the insurance company and in place of his claim of Rs 14 lakh he was offered a meager Rs 15,504.
The appeal filed by New India Assurance Company was taken up for disposal by the Bench and upon hearing the parties the Bench through its president observed that standard of proof in consumer matter is preponderance of possibility. Furthermore, Justice Bakre further observed in his order that “after carefully going through the records and analyzing the same, the Forum has observed that they have no doubt that the complainant had purchased material worth the minimum of Rs 9.9 lakh and the entire goods inside the shop had turned into ashes. After going through the evidence on record we are of the view that the above observation made by the Forum about the stock and loss is to be believed and the contentions raised by the OP No. 1 are not tenable insofar as the loss to the goods is concerned.
However, the Forum has further observed that the complainant has proved that he has suffered the minimum loss of Rs 14 lakh which includes the said sum of Rs 9.9 lakh – towards the loss of clothes and readymade garments and towards the loss and damage to the shop including to the wooden articles and mezzanine wooden floor. The above means that a sum of Rs. 7.1 lakh has been taken as loss to the wooden articles and wooden mezzanine floor of the shop. There is absolutely no evidence regarding the calculation of loss towards the furniture, wooden material on record of the mezzanine, value of the tailoring machines, etc.
Hence the contentions of the OP No. 1 are good insofar as the damage to the shop, is concerned.” The retired judge further noted that “We are of the view that the Forum has awarded unreasonable amount towards loss to the premises. In our view, the total loss should be taken as Rs 10 lakh. Even the compensation for stress, tension, mental agony and harassment awarded by the Forum is exorbitant and in our view the same should not be more than Rs 25,000.”