Motor claims: Court slams insurance cos

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has severely criticised insurance companies for their ���apathy and obstructive attitude��� in settling compensation claims of motor accident victims. ���It is a great irony in this country that insurance companies are prompt in settling the claims of the insured vehicles for the damage but create all sorts of obstructions and bottlenecks in settling the claims of victims of the accidents,��� Justice Kailash Gambhir said.

���The victims of accident and their family members not only undergo the traumatised and harrowing experience of losing a family member but also they are made to suffer greatest humiliation and embarrassment right from the mortuary till the award of compensation,��� the bench said.

These observations came on an appeal seeking enhancement of compensation awarded by a motor accident claim tribunal, filed by the parents of a 21-year-old man who died in a road accident in 1999.
Enhancing the compensation from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 4.6 lakh, the judge said ���the precious life of a human being is of little concern in comparison to settlement of a claim for the damaged motor vehicle in the estimation of these insurance companies.

���The companies, on getting information about an accident, immediately take steps to appoint surveyor for assessing the damage but the same enthusiasm is shown in settling victims��� claim,��� it said.
���Atrociously, no similar pains are taken by these insurance companies to compensate the victims of the accidents in injury cases,��� the bench said.