The High Court dismissed a plea requesting disclosure of information about deceased policyholders under the PMJJBY scheme to LIC for claim processing. The Court ruled against sharing such details, citing confidentiality and procedural constraints. The petition sought to streamline claim settlements for beneficiaries. However, the decision upholds the importance of data privacy and procedural adherence.
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court dismissed a petition requesting that the Union Home Ministry provide information to the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) about deceased policyholders under the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) to facilitate claims for their families.
The court expressed concerns that following the petition’s suggested approach could potentially lead to a scam, allowing unauthorized individuals to claim benefits from the policy.
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The bench, consisting of Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela, noted that the public interest litigation (PIL) was based on the assumption that the families or nominees of the deceased were unaware of the insurance policies or had not received any policy documents.
The court stated,
“No letter written by any of the family members/nominees of the deceased has been enclosed complaining of non-issuance of policy documents to the policyholders. Consequently, there is no material on record justifying the said presumption and assumption.”
It further asserted that policyholders should not be presumed to be illiterate or incapable of seeking legal remedies for their grievances and found no valid reason to entertain the petition.
The judges emphasized,
“If the course of action as suggested in the present writ petition is adopted, it may lead to a scam as benefits under the policy may be appropriated by individuals who have not applied and who are not verified.”
They also reiterated that insurance contracts are private agreements and that public interest petitions are generally not applicable in such cases.
The petition sought to compel LIC to provide policy documents to all PMJJBY policyholders and to direct the Ministry to share information about deceased individuals with LIC to expedite the insurance claims of Rs.2 lakh under the scheme.
The petitioner’s counsel argued that policy documents had not been issued as required and highlighted that the Registrar General and Census Commissioner had not been sharing the database of deceased individuals with the Department of Financial Services (DFS).
The lawyer suggested that direct sharing of this information would enable DFS and LIC to identify which deceased individuals held insurance policies.