SURVEYOR REPORT NOT TO BE REJECTED WITHOUT VALID REASON

The Supreme Court has said that in order to assess the damage claim, the insurance companies cannot appoint surveyor after surveyor to get a tailor-made report. If the report of the damage surveyor is not acceptable, the insurance companies have to give valid reason(s) for rejecting such a report. The court said, scheme of section 64-UM of the Insurance Act, 1938 particularly its sub-sections (2), (3) and (4)
would show that the insurer cannot appoint a second surveyor just as a routine matter. If for any valid reason the report of the surveyor is not acceptable to the insuree, it must specify cogent reasons, without which it is not free to appoint second surveyor or surveyors till it gets a report which would satisfy its interest. Alternatively, it can be stated that there must be sufficient ground to disagree with the findings of surveyor/surveyors. There is no prohibition in the Insurance Act for appointment of second surveyor by the insurance company, but while doing so, they has to give satisfactory reasons for not accepting the report of the first surveyor and the need to appoint second surveyor.