Insurance policies extremely important in times of COVID-19: HC

The high court made the observation on being informed that all the bids received by various insurance companies for issuing group medi-claim and life insurance policies for advocates have been rejected. Justice Prathiba M Singh directed a Technical Evaluation Committee under the Delhi Government to hold negotiations with three insurance companies -- The New India Assurance, Oriental Insurance and National Insurance, for the purposes of issuing group medi-claim policies for Delhi-based advocates under the Chief Minister Advocates' Welfare Scheme.

The Delhi High Court Thursday said timely issuance of insurance policies is extremely important, especially for members of the legal fraternity, in times of COVID-19 pandemic. The high court made the observation on being informed that all the bids received by various insurance companies for issuing group medi-claim and life insurance policies for advocates have been rejected.

Justice Prathiba M Singh directed a Technical Evaluation Committee under the Delhi Government to hold negotiations with three insurance companies -- The New India Assurance, Oriental Insurance and National Insurance, for the purposes of issuing group medi-claim policies for Delhi-based advocates under the Chief Minister Advocates' Welfare Scheme. For issuing life insurance, the high court directed the committee to hold a meeting with Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and finalize the terms of the policies and then it will issue policies to Delhi-based lawyers till the age of 74 years.

It asked the Bar Council of Delhi (BCD) to inform about the lawyers who are above the age of 74 years so that it can look for modalities to include them in other policies. The high court was hearing a petition by the BCD, filed through its chairman and advocate K C Mittal, concerning the implementation of the CM Advocates' Welfare Scheme.

“It needs no emphasis that considering the pandemic, timely issuance of insurance policies is extremely important, especially for members of the legal fraternity. The scheme is already floated by the Delhi government and it has to bear fruition and cannot be allowed to be rendered ineffective,” the judge said. The high court raised concerns over delay in issuance of policies and said perusal of bidders showed that these companies are largest insurance companies in the country and have high standing in the market. Pursuant to the high court’s earlier order, tender notice was issued by the Delhi Government for procuring the insurance schemes for lawyers.

In its status report filed, the Delhi Government informed the court that although three insurance companies -- The New India Assurance, Oriental Insurance and National Insurance have submitted their bids for group medi-claim pursuant to the tender, it was found that they were not qualified in terms of the notice. It said these insurance companies had failed to produce documents with respect to their experience and Rs 35 lakh security amount.

It told the high court that for life insurance, only one company -- LIC came forward with the bid and thus, the bid was not "technically qualified". The BCD urged the court to direct the Delhi Government to go ahead with the process in spite of technical shortfalls.

The high court directed the Technical Evaluation Committee to conduct negotiations within the "broad parameters of the notice inviting tender", except for the two conditions pertaining to experience documents and security amount. It said the committee may choose the bid of any one insurance company or divide it amongst two or more parties.

After the decision of the committee is approved by the Cabinet of the Delhi Government, the high court said the report be placed before it. According to the BCD’s plea, there are 37,135 lawyers who are registered voters in Delhi and of these 29,098 are on the BCD's rolls and have been verified by it.

It has said that vide cabinet decision of December 17, 2019, Delhi government decided to provide medical insurance of Rs five lakh and term insurance of Rs 10 lakh to lawyers, who are residents of the national capital, under the Chief Minister Advocates Welfare Scheme. The petition contended that no scheme was made available in 2019-20 and even during COVID-19 crisis nothing was done.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)