Supreme Court stays Bombay HC order directing Bajaj Allianz to pay insurance claims to 3.5 lakh farmers who lost crops due to rains

The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed an order of the Bombay High Court directing Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company Limited to compensate over 3.5 lakh farmers from Osmanabad district of Maharashtra who suffered soyabean crop loss due to heavy rainfall in the Kharif season of 2020 [M/s Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Co Ltd v Dnyanraj]..A Bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and Hima Kohli stayed the order of the Aurangabad Bench of the High Court that had, while directing Bajaj Allianz to compensate the agriculturists, said that in the event the company fails to compensate the farmers, the State should..The High Court judgment was passed in pleas filed by farmers who were refused insurance coverage for their losses.The petitioners had sought directions to Bajaj Allianz to sanction and grant compensation for the same.They had also prayed that in the event the company refused to pay the claims of 3,57,287 agriculturists, the State should be directed to pay the claim.The petitioners stated that they had paid insurance premium for insurance coverage. The State government had also contributed part of the insurance premium on behalf of the agriculturists.There were about 4,57,216 affected agriculturists in all eight talukas of Osmanabad district of Maharashtra. The Court was informed that the insurance company received over ₹500 crore as premium under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Beema Yojana (PMFBY) from farmers in Osmanabad.A total of 72,325 agriculturists were compensated by the insurance company by paying aggregate amount of ₹87.87 crores.However, it did not pay the claims of large number of agriculturists including the petitioners in the present pleas on the ground that there was no intimation or complaint made by the agriculturists within 72 hours from the date of alleged loss suffered by the agriculturists and this disentitled them from such benefit under the said scheme.The Court found no substance in the submissions made by the the insurance company that the petitioners have claimed relief beyond the ambit and scope of PMFBY.It had, therefore, ordered Bajaj Allianz to compensate the farmers. The company then moved the Supreme Court by way of the present appeal. .Senior Advocate Vivek Tankha, briefed by advocates Ajit Warrier, Angad Kochhar, Tanvi Dubey and Sajal Mendiratta, appeared for the appellant. The plea was filed through advocate Shardul S Shroff.