National Insurance Co Ltd Vs Harsolia Motors and others(Supreme Court)
Date-13th April 2023
Sub-What is the meaning of commercial purpose under the Consumer Protection Act for reimbursement of claim on account of fire at the godown of a commercial enterprise?

The Apex Court in this case was considering claim of the respondent herein for loss on account of riots arising due to Godhra Incident in the year 2002, when the Insurance co denied the claim on account of complainant being a company running a business and hence could not be said to be a consumer under the Act. The Supreme Court however analysed the meaning of “commercial purpose” , “consumer” in detail and held that taking the insurance policy by a commercial enterprise cannot be said to have a close nexus to profit generating activity and it cannot be said that the dominant intention of the insurance transaction was to facilitate some kind of profit generation for the purchaser of the policy and/or their beneficiary and thus the commercial enterprise was a consumer under the Act and thus the appeal of National Insurance co ltd was dismissed.

This judgement is an important judgement and will be of help to all those who are running commercial enterprise and/or business.

Ramesh Patodia
14-04-2023