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TMI Blog1995 (5) TMI 282X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ents on the grounds, inter alia, that the petitioner society not being a citizen is not entitled to complain of the alleged breach of Articles 19(1)(g) and 21 of the Constitution. Moreover, it is pleaded that claims which are less than ₹ 20,000.00 in value can be settled by the insurance company itself without reference to the approved assessors or surveyors as the provision of Section 64UM of the Act do not bar in house assessments or settlements of claims in such cases. It is denied that Articles 14, 19(1)(g) and 21 of the Constitution have been infringed by settlement of such claims. (4) The determination of questions involved in the writ petition depend on the interpretation of section 64UM. The; Section was added by Insurance (Amendment) Act,1968 (for short Amendment Act), which was brought into effect on January 1, 1969. (5) Section 64UM is a long section having ten sub sections. Sub section (1) (A) deals with licensing of surveyors and loss assessors. It requires a license for a person to act as a surveyor or loss assessor. This sub section provides as follows: Save as otherwise provided in this section, no person shall act as a surveyor or loss'assessor ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... (2)No claim in respect of a loss which has occurred in India and requiring to be paid or settled in India equal to or exceeding twenty thousand rupees in value on any policy of insurance, arising or intimated to an insurer at any time after the expiry of a period of one year from the commencement of the Insurance (Amendment) Act, 1968 shall, unless otherwise directed by the Controller, be admitted for payment or settled by. the insurer unless he has obtained a report on the loss that has occurred, from a person who holds a license issued under this section to act as a surveyor or loss assessor (hereafter referred to as approved surveyor or loss assessor ): PROVIDED that nothing in this sub- section shall be demand to take away or abridge the right of the insurer to pay or settle any claim at any amount different from the amount assessed by the approved surveyor or loss assessor . (8) Thus sub section (2) provides that a claim equal to or over ₹ 20,000.00 will not be admitted for payment or settled by the insurer unless a report is obtained from an approved surveyor and loss assessor. An approved surveyor or loss assessor for the purpose of the section means a person ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... THE Controller may in respect of any claim of value of less than twenty thousand rupees on an insurance policy, if the claim has not been or is not proposed to be reported upon by a surveyor or loss assessor, direct that such claim shall be reported upon by an approved surveyor or loss assessor and where the Controller makes such direction, the provisions of sub-section (3) and (4) shall apply in respect of such claim . (14) As is manifest from above, the Controller is empowered to seek a report from an approved surveyor or loss assessor in regard to a claim of the value of less than twenty thousand rupees on an insurance policy, if the claim is not reported upon or is not proposed to be reported upon by a surveyor or loss assessor. (15) Sub section (10) is in the nature of an exception to sub section (2). It provides as follows: WHERE,in relation to any class of claims the Central Government is satisfied that it is customary to entrust the work of survey or loss assessment to any person other than a licensed surveyor or loss assessor, or it is not practicable to make any survey or loss assessment, it may, by an order published in the Official Gazette, exempt such class of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s than ₹ 20,000.00 by assessment of the case by its own staff, but I Find no merit in it. Sub section (6) comes into play only when the insurer decides not to settle the claim of less than ₹ 20,000.00 in value by itself. In such an eventuality it can employ the services of a person other than an approved surveyor or loss assessor provided that person is not disqualified for being employed as a surveyor or loss assessor. Sub section 6 in no manner restricts the right of the insurer to settle the claim by itself through its own officers. These officers cannot be considered to be acting as Surveyors or loss assessors as contemplated by sub sections 1(D), (2) and (6) of Section 64UM. Actually Sub section (9) serves as a key to the interpretation of sub section (6) and helps in discerning its real import. As already seen, it empowers the Controller to direct a claim of loss, under a policy of insurance, to be reported upon by an approved surveyor or loss assessor in case where the claim has not been or is not proposed to be reported upon by a surveyor or loss assessor. In other words where the insurer chooses not to have the claim below ₹ 20,000.00 reported upon by any ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... report it was noticed that the surveyors were being engaged to investigate claims below ₹ 20,000.00 apparently as a measure of abundant caution leading to increased costs and delays. The report also noticed that the limit of ₹ 20,000.00 and upward of which every claim was required to be subject to survey by the professional surveyors was prescribed 25 years ago. It was recommended that this limit should be raised to. ₹ 1 lac by suitably amending the law. (23) The learned Attorney General submitted that the report of the Committee on reforms in the insurance sector should be treated as of a persuasive value in the construction of the enactment. In this regard while placing reliance on Statutory Interpretations by F.A.R. Bennion, (second edition), he invited my attention to the following observations of the learned author: .1s1 THE court may treat as of persuasive authority in the construction of an enactment the view of an official committee reporting on the meaning of the enactment. COMMENT WHERE a Royal Commission, departmental committee or other official body makes a study of a sector of legislation and reports on its meaning, the court may treat this a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... this undertaking it will be necessary to lake a view on this aspect of the matter as the undertaking is only by the third respondent and not by remaining insurance companies.the respondents 2 and 4 to 6. (28) Sub section ( 6) contemplates that a person from whom a report is sought should not be a person disqualified from being employed as surveyor or loss assessor. Disqualification does not merely mean disqualification as provided by Section 42(4) of the Act, which deals with licencing of insurance agents for the purpose of soliciting and procuring insurance business. It is sub section 1 (D) of Section 64UM which prescribes qualification in clauses (a) to (g) thereof, which a person must possess for acquiring the license to act as a surveyor or loss assessor, including the requirement laid down in Section 42(4). If a person docs not fulfill the requisite qualification laid down in clauses (a) to (g) of sub section 1 (D) of Section 64UM he has to be considered disqualified for being employed as surveyor or loss assessor. This sub section cannot be intended to arm the insurer with the power to have the claims surveyed by persons of its choice who do not even fulfilll the requisit ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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