A consumer court in Jamnagar, Gujarat, has ordered LIC of India to give a policyholder whose husband passed away from a heart attack in 2022 Rs 12 lakh plus 6% interest. The court determined that LIC's denial of the claim amounted to "deficiency in service" and ordered LIC to pay Rs 3,000 for legal fees and Rs 5,000 as compensation for mental harassment.
The complaint states that Bharat Sheth passed away on November 16, 2022. On November 15, 2019, he received two LIC policies totaling Rs 12 lakh. Neha Sheth, his widow, filed a claim, but LIC denied it on the grounds that the policy had not been in effect for three years and that the dead had allegedly withheld information about having diabetes.
Neha argued that her husband had had several LIC policies and that, prior to issue, he had completed LIC's medical testing, which did not reveal diabetes. She contended that any reference to diabetes in medical records might have resulted from drug side effects during brain tumor treatment.
The court pointed out that there was no clause in the policy permitting claim rejection due to diabetes, and LIC's own records did not reveal any pre-existing conditions. It came to the conclusion that LIC had denied the claim in an unfair manner.
