ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi on Thursday directed State Life Insurance Corporation of Pakistan (SLICP) to pay due policy amount of Rs1.95 million to claimants besides strengthening pre-policy verincation process to facilitate clients, upholding the orders of the Wafagi Mohtasib (WM)in four similar representations filed by the SLICP.

According to the Presidency, he directed the SLICP to improve and strengthen its business procedures and processes before and after the award of policies to eliminate the possibilities of future litigations.

In his decision, the president observed that maladministration on part of SLICP was established and ordered the corporation to not only settle the claims worth Rs1.95 million with four claimants but also pay them the profit accumulated during the entire period when the payment was withheld.

He observed that the point of view of SLICP was not tenable as the policyholders were declared medically fit in the medical examination by the authorised medical officer of SLICP prior to the issuance of the policy as well as by the field officers who had declared the deceased policyholders healthy at the time of the issuance of the policies, therefore,the pleas of the pre-insurance ailments were hit by the principle of estoppels.

President Alvi also made reference to the Contract Act 1872 and said that where the consent was caused by the misrepresentation of fraudulent means, the contract was not voidable if the party whose consent was so caused had the means of discovering the truth with ordinary diligence.

He noted that as per Lahore High Court`s decision ailments such as hypertension and diabetes could not be called exceptional reasons as the majority of people having such ailments, by remaining more careful in their life, lived either for decades or longer than people not having such diseases, therefore, the concealment of such diseases could not be termed as done fraudulently.

After their deaths, their family members (the complainants) applied for insurance claims to SLICP, which were repudiated on the grounds that the deceased policyholders had pre-insurance ailments suchasliverdisease,diabetes,hepatitis or heart disease, which they had willingly not disclosed at the time of obtaining the policies.

Feeling aggrieved, the complainants approached the Wafagi Mohtasib, which passed the orders in their favour. The president, however, rejected the SLICP`s appeals against the orders of WM.