CA pulls LIC to court to get full assured amount

Vadodara: A city-based chartered accountant (CA) was preparing for a long drawn battle having pulled insurance giant Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) to the court over a policy dispute.
But while he was rehearsing his strategies to fight for his claim for a full assured amount, 62-year-old Sanjeev Shah was pleasantly surprised when he received a letter from LIC on Monday, informing him of paying the full amount on maturity of his policy in July this year.
“I got a letter from the LIC informing me that I will get the full assured amount on the day the policy matures. It was surprising as earlier they had refused to pay the full amount which is why I had to file a case against the LIC in the first place,” said Shah who took the insurer to the consumer court through advocate Jaideep Verma.
Shah said that he had bought LIC’s ‘Jeevan Saral’ policy in July 2006 and regularly paid Rs 3,062 towards quarterly premium. The policy is to mature in 2022 and Shah had been assured the amount of Rs 2.5 lakh.
“But in September 2020, I got a letter from the LIC that I will receive Rs 1.68 lakh. The reason they gave was a typographical error while printing the schedule of the policy document. Did it take them 14 years to notice that mistake?” questioned Shah, who then filed a case in the consumer forum in October 2020.
His requested the court to make the LIC pay the entire assured amount and also sought an additional amount of Rs 2.5 lakh towards compensation for damages, harassment and litigation expenses. Shah claimed that many others who bought the same policy also got similar letters.
“Even after filing the case, the LIC didn’t communicate with me. And now, I got this letter just two days before their IPO is to come out. In fact, the red herring prospectus of LIC released some time ago also mentions litigations about Jeevan Saral policy. I don’t know if they changed their stand due to my suit or some other reason,” Shah said.
He added that once he gets the assured amount, he will withdraw the case.