Ahmedabad: According to a district consumer commission, an insurance provider must give the insured person’s family a death benefit of ₹10 lakh.
The insurance denied the amount to a family because it held a BPL card. It mentioned, “A Below Poverty Line (BPL) ration card is not conclusive proof of a person’s income.”
In this instance, Birla Sun Life Insurance Co Ltd provided a 10 lakh life insurance policy to Kanubhai Solanki. He was a resident of Kapadvanj town in the Kheda district in July 2012. In January 2015, a heart arrest claimed his life.
The insurance company denied the death claim because Solanki had reported fake income, notwithstanding the family’s requests for the insurance payout. Although he claimed to earn ₹1.80 lakh annually, the corporation claimed that his family had a BPL card. The firm said that the insured failed to provide the BPL card to conceal information about his income.
The family filed a complaint against the insurance with the Ahmedabad (city) Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission. It claimed that Solanki had never requested a BPL card. Further the family said that the government had already distributed them to everyone in the region. After Solanki acquired the insurance policy, the family claimed they received a BPL card. The family also maintained that a BPL card cannot determine one’s income and that it is not true to say that one will always be poor.
According to the family, Solanki was a wealthy seller of clothing. It claimed the refusal of his death claim showed a lack of service.
The business emphasised that Solanki was a BPL and had obtained the coverage illegally.
The commission concluded on August 18 that the statement of income is not a significant fact for policy issuance after hearing the case. At the time of his passing, the policy was still in effect after Solanki had paid three premiums. “The BPL ration card cannot be considered conclusive proof of cardholder’s income. Sometimes, a BPL card can be obtained by a person by disclosing less income than actual income,” the commission said. It ordered the insurer to pay the death claim along with Rs 15,000 extra towards compensation for causing mental agony and legal expenditure.
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