Page 49 - Insurance Times July 2022

Vehicle Insurance

HC order asking insurance firm to com- pay then the state government should compensate the
farmers for the crop loss.
pensate farmers for crop loss stayed
"If the amount is not paid by the insurance company...the
The Supreme Court has stayed a Bombay High Court order
state government is directed to pay such claim for compen-
which had asked Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company Ltd.
sation for post-harvest loss caused to the soybean crop in
to compensate over 3.5 lakh farmers under the Pradhan
Kharif season 2020 to remaining 3,57,287 agriculturists of
Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) for loss of soya bean crop
Osmanabad district within a period of six weeks thereaf-
due to heavy rainfall in 2020. A Supreme Court vacation bench
ter," the high court had said.
comprising justices J K Maheshwari and Hima Kohli, however,
The high court order had come on a batch of petitions of
asked the insurance company to deposit Rs 200 crore with its
the farmers challenging the refusal of their insurance cov-
registry within a period of six weeks from June 16.
erage for their post-harvesting losses.
In a major relief to soya bean farmers of Osmanabad dis-
The farmers had submitted that they had paid premiums
trict of Maharashtra who had suffered crop loss due to
for insurance coverage of their crops.
heavy rainfall in the Kharif season of 2020, the Bombay High
Court circuit bench in Aurangabad recently directed the The high court was also informed that the insurance com-
insurance company to compensate them. pany received over Rs 500 crore as premium under the
The insurance firm was represented in the Supreme Court Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana from farmers in
by senior advocate Vivek Tankha and other lawyers includ- Osmanabad.
ing Tanvi Dubey.
NHRC seeks mandatory insurance, acci-
While issuing notice on the appeal of the insurance firm,
the SC bench, on June 16, said, "In the meantime, there dent covers of Rs 15 lakh for truck driv-
will be a stay of operation of the impugned judgment sub-
ers
ject to the petitioner depositing an amount of Rs 200 crore
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued
with the Registry of this Court within a period of six weeks
anadvisory to central government, the states, and the union
from today, as requested. The amount deposited shall be
territories to defend the interests of truck drivers after
invested in an interest bearing fixed deposit in a nationalised
seeing that their legal entitlements are not given enough
bank until further orders."
consideration. The recommendation has advised that the
In the event the amount is not deposited within six weeks,
Motor Vehicle Act, 1988 be revised to require the purchase
the order of stay shall stand automatically vacated with-
of personal accident insurance for each driver, co-driver, and
out further reference to the court, it ordered.
helper of a commercial truck in an amount not less than Rs
The bench directed the petitioner farmers and the state 15 lakh.
government to file their replies within six weeks.
The NHRC has written to the Union ministries and depart-
The high court, while directing the insurance firm to com- ments, chief secretaries of states, and administrators of UTs,
pensate the farmers, had said that if the company failed to asking them to implement its recommendations in the ad-
The Insurance Times, July 2022 49