Hyderabad: There was a major makeover of the Redressal of Public Grievance Rules, 1999, last year. The amended rules came into effect from April 24, and are now called Insurance Ombudsman Rules, 2017.
These rules are applicable to all insurers, their agents and intermediaries in respect to companies doing personal insurance, group insurance policies, and policies for sole proprietorship firms and micro enterprises.
The new set of rules give more power to the ombudsman, who functions within a set geographical jurisdiction and can entertain disputes relating to partial or total repudiation of claims, delay in settlement of claims, and any dispute on the legal construction of the policies so far.
According to the new rules, the Centre can anytime refer any complaint or dispute relating to insurance matters to the Ombudsman, who can also refer to other professional experts if needed in order to act fairly and equitably.
Earlier, a period of one year was allowed to entertain cases after the complaint was rejected in the grievance redressal forum; now the ombudsman has been empowered to decide on relaxation of the time period.
