On more than one occasion, Justice Wadhwa, former president of the apex consumer court, had commented on the large number of insurance cases filed before the consumer courts by commercial establishments and had remarked that he sometimes felt like he was presiding over an insurance tribunal.

Things have not changed since. If anything, the number of complaints being filed before the consumer courts against insurance companies has gone up. Now the apex consumer court feels that the number of cases filed against insurance companies before the consumer courts can come down considerably, if only insurance companies set right their process of claim settlement.

So about a month ago, when the apex consumer court called a meeting of presidents of state commissions and secretaries handling consumer affairs, it also decided to invite executives of insurance companies to discuss this issue. And for once, insurance companies did not have the support of their standing counsel to argue their case before the presiding members of consumer courts. They also had to listen to a host of criticisms, not so much from consumers as the presiding members. And insurance companies were hard put to explain some of their actions.

The apex consumer court was quite clear as to where improvements were needed. For example, it said (1) Insurance companies should make every effort to settle claims within the specified period (as stipulated by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) in its Regulation on the Protection of Policy Holders’ Interests) and not delay the claim settlement. (2) Insurance companies should desist from appointing more than one surveyor to assess loss, as that unnecessarily delayed the process of settlement and caused harassment to the consumer. (3) Once the surveyor submits the report, there should not be any delay in settling the claim. (4) The terms and conditions stipulated in the policies should be clear and unambiguous.

The National Commission was also critical of the fact that insurance companies filed appeals before the Supreme Court against the orders of the National Commission even for petty claim amounts, thereby causing harassment to consumers. In short, the apex consumer court said it wanted the insurance companies to comply with the guidelines issued by the IRDA for the protection of policy holders, and also ensure prompt settlement and payment of insurance claims , so that consumers are not inconvenienced and forced to file complaints before the consumer courts. A conference such as this should force the insurers to improve their services vis-?-vis policy holders.

And when that happens, one will see a reduction in the number of complaints filed before the consumer courts.