There are many types of business that people are doing nowadays. In every decade many more varieties of business are added. Some of them grow fast but a few with slow pace. Insurance business has been running for the last many decades in full swing though it was started as a cooperative work. When shipping business came in existence it was not an organized sector. When any ship was sunk or wrecked the concerned company went into bankruptcy. To come out of this calamity a man who was in the same field advised the company owner’s to make a joint corporation. Every member would put some money in it and would be called share holder. When any of the members’ ship was sunk or wrecked the corporation would compensate his losses. The company owners agreed to his proposal. So they formed it and ran it on the same thought. They found it a fruit full idea. Slowly and gradually different conditions were added and deleted from the norms. Latter on this idea was used in other fields too.
Presently Insurance is a full-fledged business venture. Many big companies are running this business with expertise. They do insurance of peoples’ life, houses, vehicles etc. For the last decade a new type of insurance policy has sprung up in the market that is called ‘med claim policy’. In this policy a man is insured against his illness. If he falls ill the insurance company pays his medical bill.
These insurance companies are doing their business in a big boon. Under motor vehicle act it is mandatory to get your vehicle insured. It has some different types of policies. The companies frame new policy to attract new customers and their sole motive is to earn profit only. The original idea has now been defeated. Yesterday a case appeared in news papers where the claimant got compensation after the court order. The companies think they are meant just to collect premium only. They are not interested to repay it when a policy holder requires it. That time they will make so many excuses as if the concerned is a beggar. They have no sympathizing attitude for their customers.
In one case even Supreme Court intervened to give relief to a claimant. The claimant was a driver in the government department. One day he took the department’s car to his home for which he was not entitled. He used the car for his personal use and the met an accident. That time he and his friends were in the car. The insurance company refused to pay the compensation. The company said that the driver used the car illegally and other people sitting in it didn’t belong to the company. The joint bench of justice Aftab and RM Lodha said in their decision that the driver took the car to his home illegally even then the insurance company had to pay the compensation. There is a provision of compensation on ‘no fault’ in motor vehicle act 1988 under section 140. It means if there is no fault of any one in accident the passengers will be compensated. The joint bench said, ‘If the claimants of the deceased forget to claim or it is ignored by the tribunal it doesn’t mean that the case of getting claim in closed.’ The joint bench ordered the company to pay the compensation to the deceased nominee rupees twenty five thousand along with six percent interest. (Now the amount is increased by fifty thousand rupees). In this case other three persons have not turned up even though the insurance company had to pay them compensation. This is an exemplary decision and the insurance company should follow this decision in other such cases. The insurance company should not behave like assurance company.