LIC ordered to pay Rs 50 lakh to Covid policy premium payer's family

A district-level consumer disputes commission in Kerala has ordered Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), India's largest insurer, to pay Rs 50 lakh in compensation to the family of a policy premium payer who succumbed to COVID-19, citing the insurer's technical lapse.

The commission fined LIC Rs 50 lakh for violating its own guidelines, which require policy issuance within 15 days of receiving premium payment. In this case, LIC received over Rs 20 lakh as premium, but refunded it only after nine months.

The Kottayam District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission further observed that LIC failed to inform the applicant about the temporary suspension of life insurance policies for non-resident Indians during the COVID-19 pandemic, prior to his demise.

This omission denied him the chance to secure alternative coverage, constituting a grave service lapse, it said.

According to an official release here, Jemon, a London-based expatriate, had purchased a Jeevan Umang life insurance policy f