Justice After 29 Years: A Personal Accident Claim That Questions India’s Insurance Woes
In a landmark ruling, the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) has directed United India Insurance to pay ₹10 crore with 9% annual interest to the family of Kishori Lal Sharan Garg, a Jaipur businessman who died in a road accident in 1997.
Insurer claim rejection was declared “untenable” and held that the company could not substantiate allegations of suppression of material facts because it failed to produce the original proposal forms forming the basis of the dispute.
The order comes nearly three decades after the claim was first filed, underscoring the chronic delays in India’s insurance claim settlement system.
The Case
- Garg died in a car accident while traveling from Jaipur to Delhi in March 1997.
- He was covered under two personal accident policies — ₹10 crore from United India Insurance and ₹5 crore from National Insurance.
- Both insurers repudiated the claims, alleging concealment of material facts.
- The NCDRC found that United India Insurance failed to justify its rejection, as it could not produce the original proposal forms.
- The Commission reaffirmed its earlier order, directing the insurer to pay the claim amount with interest to Garg’s widow, Asha Garg, and her family.
The Larger Problem
This case is not an isolated anomaly. It reflects systemic issues in India’s insurance sector:
- Excessive delays: Claims often take years, sometimes decades, to be resolved.
- Opaque processes: Insurers rely on technicalities and missing paperwork to deny claims.
- High repudiation rates: A significant share of claims are rejected, eroding consumer trust.
- Weak grievance redressal: Ombudsman offices and consumer forums remain overburdened.
- Legal bottlenecks: Thousands of disputes clog the courts, slowing resolution further.
Eye‑Opening Consumer Perspective
From the customer’s angle, the verdict is both relief and revelation:
- “An insurance policy that pays after 29 years is not protection — it’s betrayal.”
- “The fine print is often used as a weapon against policyholders, not as a safeguard.”
- “Insurance promises financial security, but for many families it becomes a lifelong legal battle.”
The Garg family’s 29‑year wait for justice is a sobering reminder of the urgent reforms required in India’s insurance sector. For consumers, it underscores the importance of vigilance and persistence. For insurers and regulators, it is a call to action: insurance must mean security, not endless struggle.
Such suffering for customers is the root cause of the lack of trust in insurance. There are many cases where claim payouts have been made only after a decade of legal battle. This amounts to harassment of the customer. The regulator and the government have not created provisions to punish those responsible for such mental torture. There is a world of difference between 29 days and 29 years — isn’t it? The judiciary is equally responsible for this harassment, as cases often move in circular motions without resolution.
With such a reputation, insurance in India risks shifting from “protection” to “betrayal” ???
Repetitive offences by insurers must be punished including cancellation of licence to operate. It is a known fact that insurers commit for higher sum insured in a product and when claim arises from such products, they start looking for the options to repudiate the claim, irrespective of the merit of the case.
Many industry leaders keep giving “gyan” while sitting in air‑conditioned cabins or speaking at seminars and conferences. The ground reality, however, is completely different.
It has been more than 25 years since the inception of IRDAI, yet no significant trust has been established. Whether public or private players, certain issues remain common: claim settlement delays, poor service, mis‑selling, cross‑selling, aggressive solicitation, non‑issuance of policy documents — the list goes on.
At the end of it all, it is always the customer who suffers.
–Ashish Kumar
Check my book – “The Balance Sheet of Life: A Mirror not a Manual”
https://ashishvision.wordpress.com/2026/01/20/book-release-announcement/
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