Insurer accountable to the insured for act of agent: Consumer forum

S Muralidharan;BL:26 JULY 2012

When an insurance company accepts without demur personal cheques of its agents, after the agent had collected premium from the insured favouring himself in the first instance, it cannot subsequently wriggle out of its commitment to the insured.

The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission in Bajaj Allianz Insurance Company Ltd v. Sali Thomas found the argument of the appellant—insurer, that it was not responsible for the actions of its agent in not paying the premium collected in his personal name and deposited in his personal bank account, untenable after having acquiesced in the act by accepting the first few instalments.

The wily agent did the vanishing trick after faithfully depositing with the insurer the first two instalments of Rs 1,50,000 each but swindled the last instalment for the same amount.

The insurer’s plea that the agent was no longer its employ when the third and the last instalment was collected by him once again in his personal capacity did not wash with the Commission. Had it put its foot down on the pernicious practice of the agent collecting premium in his personal name and then issuing his own cheque to the insurer, its stand would have been tenable. The commission pointed out that the insured obviously cannot be faulted because the insurer had fostered the notion that the agent had apparent authority to collect cheques in his personal name by condoning this act not once but twice.

(The author is a New Delhi-based chartered accountant.)