President directs SLICP to pay interest to insurance policyholder
President Dr Arif Alvi has directed the State Life Insurance Corporation of Pakistan (SLICP) to compensate an insurance policyholder by paying the interest per the prevailing rate as it had delayed payment of the maturity claim to the complainant without giving any reason.
The president, in his decision, observed that the complainant had obtained the insurance policy from the SLICP on October 31, 1990, for the sum assured of Rs30,000 for 20 years and that the date of maturity of the policy was October 31, 2020. However, the SLICP made payment of the maturity claim to the complainant after a lapse of almost two years.
The SLICP failed to justify the belated payment to the complainant and admittedly, the premiums deposited by the complainant were kept by the insurance company and it had earned profits on it, the President Secretariat Press Wing said in a press release on Sunday.
The president held that by virtue of unexplained delayed payment to the complainant, the SLICP was required to compensate the complainant by paying interest per the prevailing rate.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 9th, 2023.