Insurer Not Liable Beyond Sum Assured Without Advance Premium: SC
Table of Contents
- Case Title: The New India Assurance Company Limited & Ors. v M/S Louis Dreyfus Commodities India Pvt. Ltd.
- Case No.: CIVIL APPEAL NOS. 7687-7688 OF 2025
- Coram: Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Nongmeikapam Kotiswar Singh
- Court Observation
Case Title: The New India Assurance Company Limited & Ors. v M/S Louis Dreyfus Commodities India Pvt. Ltd.
Case No.: CIVIL APPEAL NOS. 7687-7688 OF 2025
Coram: Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Nongmeikapam Kotiswar Singh
Court Observation
“a statutory embargo on an insurer assuming risk if the premium has not been paid to them, either prior to such assumption or within the stipulated time period in which it is guaranteed to be paid.” He further held that under Section 64VB(2), “the risk cannot be assumed earlier than the date on which the premium has been paid.”
“incumbent upon the respondent, in view of the clear stipulation under Section 64VB, to either extend the coverage by paying the amount based on estimated turnover or at least guaranteeing to pay the same within a particular time period.”
“inconsistent with an intention to ratify, retrospectively, an assurance that additional cover had already been attached” before the fire incident. “Ratification may cure an absence of authority, but it cannot be employed to defeat a mandatory statutory requirement governing the assumption of insurance risk”
“The principle qui facit per alium facit per se applies to acts within the agent’s authority, however, it does not enable an agent to confer upon the Principal a liability which the agent was neither authorised nor legally competent to assume on its behalf”
Insurer Not Liable Beyond Sum Assured Without Advance Premium: SC
