NDLI: Canara Bank Vs. M/s United India Insurance Co. Ltd. & Ors.

Content Provider	Supreme Court of India
e-ISSN	30484839
Language	English
Access Restriction	NDLI
Subject Keyword	Insurance Policy Consumer Protection Act
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Law Judgement
Jurisdiction	India
Act(s) Referred	Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (68 of 1986)
Case(s) Referred	Referred Case 0 Referred Case 1 Referred Case 2 Referred Case 3 Referred Case 4
Case Type	Appeal
Court	Supreme Court of India
Disposal Nature	Appeal Disposed Off
Headnote	Consumer Protection Act, 1986 – s.2(d) – “Beneficiary” under the insurance policy availed by the insured, if “consumer” under the Act – Tripartite agreement between farmers, Bank and cold store – Farmers’ agricultural produce was stored in cold store – Cold store got the stocks insured from an insurance company – Farmers hypothecated agricultural produce to the Bank – Bank issued loans – Agricultural produce destroyed by fire – Farmers claimed that the insurance company was liable to pay the value of the agricultural produce as on the date of fire – Insurance company contended that the fire was not accidental and farmers were not consumers – State and National Commission concurrently held that fire was accidental; farmers were held consumers – On appeal, held:Whether the fire took place by a short circuit or any other reason, as long as insured is not the person who caused the fire, the insurance company cannot escape its liability in terms of the insurance policy – Contention of the insurance company that the fire was ignited by the use of kerosene and hence it is not liable, rejected – Tripartite agreement read along with the terms of the insurance policy make it clear that the intention of the parties was that they would be compensated by the insurance company in case of any untoward loss – Definition of consumer under the Act is very wide and includes beneficiaries taking benefit of the insurance availed by the insured – Thus, the farmer is a beneficiary under the policy and therefore, definitely a consumer – Orders of both the Commissions that the complaint under the Act is maintainable, upheld – Value of the goods as reflected in the warehouse receipts be taken to be the value on the date of fire – Insurance company to indemnify the cold store with regard to the value of goods – Farmers to get the amount payable under the policy, subject to the bank clause – Further directions issued – Insurance – Contract. Consumer Protection – Insurance Policy – Principles of interpretation – Discussed. Consumer Protection Act, 1986 – s.2(1)(d)(i) – Insurance policy – Privity of contract between insurance company and claimants – If required – Held: As far as the Act is concerned, it is not necessary that there should be privity of contract between the insurance company and the claimants – It is not necessary that those beneficiaries should be parties to the contract of insurance. Contract – Bailor and bailee relationship – Farmers’ goods stored in a cold store was destroyed by fire – Cold store had got it insured from the insurance company – Insurance company contended that since the cold store held the goods in trust, they were not liable – Held: Rejected – Farmers paid consideration to the cold store and, therefore, the goods were not held in trust per se – Possession of the farm produce was handed over by the bailor, i.e. farmer to the cold store i.e. the bailee, in terms of the contract – This is not a case envisaged under Exclusion Clause 5 of the insurance policy – Goods were neither held on commission – Insurance. Doctrines/Principles– Principle of uberrima fides – When not applicable – Discussed. Consumer Protection – Insurance policy – Non-disclosure of material facts – Effect of – Held: To make a contract void the non- disclosure should be of some very material fact – Misrepresentation or misdescription only makes the policy voidable –If the insurance company while accepting the proposal form does not ask the insured to clarify any ambiguities then after accepting the premium it cannot urge that a wrong declaration was made by the insured. Consumer Protection – Insurance Policy – Tripartite agreement between farmers, Bank and cold store – Farmers’ goods were stored in cold store – Goods insured with insurance company – Farmers hypothecated goods to the Bank – Bank issued loans – Tripartite agreement not disclosed to the insurance company – Goods destroyed by fire – Held: When the Bank issues loans against the hypothecation of goods, as in the present case, and insists that the goods should be insured to safeguard its outstandings then a duty lies upon the Bank to inform the insurance company of the policy – In the present case, matter was dragged only because names of the farmers were not mentioned in the policy or the tripartite agreement was not handed over to the insurance company – Some level of deficiency on behalf of the Bank – Thus, it cannot claim interest at the contractual rate and is entitled to charge simple interest from the date of grant of loan at the rate of 12% p.a.
Judge	Hon'ble Mr. Justice Deepak Gupta
Neutral Citation	2020 INSC 140
Petitioner	Canara Bank
Respondent	M/s United India Insurance Co. Ltd. & Ors.
SCR	[2020] 7 S.C.R. 498
Judgement Date	2020-02-06
Case Number	1042

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

Canara Bank Vs. M/s United India Insurance Co. Ltd. & Ors.

Please Log-in to view this content

M/s. United India Insurance Co. Ltd. Vs. Sukh Deo Yadav

M/s. Krishna Food & Baking Industry P. Ltd. Vs. M/s. New India Assurance Co. Ltd. & Anr.

United India Insurance Co. Ltd. Vs. M/s Payarelal Nirnajan Lal

Jacob Punnen & Anr. Vs. United India Insurance Co. Ltd.

New India Assurance Co. Ltd. & Ors Vs. M/s. Mudit Roadways

M/s Hanil Era Textiles Ltd. Vs. Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd. and Ors.

M/s News India Assurance Co. Ltd. Vs. M/s Luxra Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. & Anr.

M/s. Isnar Aqua Farms Vs. United India Insurance Co. Ltd.

M/s United India Insurance Co. Ltd. Vs. Ram Prakash Raturi

Canara Bank Vs. M/s United India Insurance Co. Ltd. & Ors.

Canara Bank Vs. M/s United India Insurance Co. Ltd. & Ors.

Please Log-in to view this content

Similar Documents

M/s. United India Insurance Co. Ltd. Vs. Sukh Deo Yadav

M/s. Krishna Food & Baking Industry P. Ltd. Vs. M/s. New India Assurance Co. Ltd. & Anr.

United India Insurance Co. Ltd. Vs. M/s Payarelal Nirnajan Lal

Jacob Punnen & Anr. Vs. United India Insurance Co. Ltd.

New India Assurance Co. Ltd. & Ors Vs. M/s. Mudit Roadways

M/s Hanil Era Textiles Ltd. Vs. Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd. and Ors.

M/s News India Assurance Co. Ltd. Vs. M/s Luxra Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. & Anr.

M/s. Isnar Aqua Farms Vs. United India Insurance Co. Ltd.

M/s United India Insurance Co. Ltd. Vs. Ram Prakash Raturi

Canara Bank Vs. M/s United India Insurance Co. Ltd. & Ors.