consumer protection mediation

Ministry of Consumer Affairs has notified the Consumer Protection (Mediation) Rules, 2020 on 15th July, 2020.

Mediation has been provided for in section 74 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019. There will be a Mediation Cell in each District Commission and State Commission. Each Mediation Cell shall have a panel of mediators who shall be appointed on the recommendations of a selection committee comprising of the President and member of that commission. Each mediation cell shall have support staff and administrative assistance. 

What matters cannot be referred to mediation is specified. These are

(a) the matters relating to proceedings in respect of medical negligence resulting in grievous injury or death; 

(b) matters which relate to defaults or offences for which applications for compounding of offences have been made by one or more parties; 

(c) cases involving serious and specific allegations of fraud, fabrication of documents, forgery, impersonation, coercion; 

(d) cases relating to prosecution for criminal and non-compoundable offences; 

(e) cases which involve public interest or the interest of numerous persons who are not parties before the Commission: 

Even outside these specified cases, the Commission can decide to not to refer such cases to mediation, if it appears to the Commission that any settlement is impossible to obtain in a particular case or that mediation is not the appropriate remedy considering the circumstances of the case concerned. 

In case settlement is reached at pursuant to mediation, then the parties shall be entitled to receive refund of their full application fees in respect of that complaint. 

While the mediation is in progress the parties have no power to resort to arbitral or judicial proceedings to decide the same case. 

Any settlement arrived at shall not be discharged upon the death of any of the parties. It shall be carried forward and enforced against the heirs and successors therein. 

Copy of the said notification can be found at the Ministry website i.e. at here

 

The Traveler Mosafer

Iranian movie (2017) made & written by Ali Hatef and starring him also in the lead role alongwith Maryan Vayghan as Mariam. Shot entirely in Los Angeles or neighbourhood Mariam comes to the US in search of her husband who is absconding after marrying her in Iran. Typical problem faced by South Asian girls also when the US groom vanishes after taking advantage of home grown girls. There is nothing much in the movie. They i.e. Ali who is a car driver and Mariam go on searching for that man. There are few Persian words which are common with Hindi like choi for tea, hazaar for thousand, do for two etc. Fascinating to hear the language spoken, otherwise there is nothing in the movie to recommend.

The Liberators

The Liberators by James Pattinson, is a story of a revolution gone wrong. Harvey London is famous for doing odd jobs which require much skill and daring. In one such job, he is left bloodies and penniless when he is offered a job to transport a revolutionary leader to the coast of Anagua, a fictional country in Latin America bordering the Caribbean. He is a accompanied by Pete, a tough young man. They have to face hurricane winds and rains while on the way, lose their boat, get into a dinghy which also capsizes, but miraculously survive to find themselves on the shore of Anagua but in hostile territory. There one girl Anita helps them to navigate through rough country with hunger, starvation, deprivation, fight with enemies pulling them through in a city Oxaca which unfortunately is denuded by a volcano and earthquake. The conquistadors move to another town but spies within their network wreck their supplies of arms & ammunition which was essential to their hopes of winning the war. After untold misery and fight, these three people find themselves at the gate of the revolution, when the unexpected happens. The narrative by James Pattinson is nice, it is quite fast flowing, though some words used are quite archaic. Goodreads 4/5

James Pattinson (1915-2009) was a prolific British author with more than 100 thrillers to his name.

Bowling for Columbine

Brilliant hard hitting documentary film (2002) by Michael Moore about the gun culture and what is wrong with that. The film starts with Michael opening a bank account in  a small town and getting a free gun in exchange. Strangely everything wrong with that - guns being given free in exchange for opening a bank account. Then it goes on to the Oklahoma bombings and the Columbine school massacre and various other school shootings including a 6 year old kid shooting another 6 year old kid. Moore delves into what is wrong with American culture, the fear of everybody by Americans, their supposedly violent history which he contradicts by saying that other countries have had much more violent historical past. At one point, he also refers to Gandhi who overthrew an entire British empire without shooting a gun. The film explores everything that is wrong with America today including their racism, their fear, their violence on the telly, the non stop 24/7 TV coverage of events, their leaders' penchant for destroying other countries. He then goes to Canada and does an analysis of why there are'nt so many shootings in Canada compared to US. In the end he has an interview with Charles Heston, the film actor (of western roles) cum President of the National Rifle Association, who could not give any satisfactory replies to Moore. Brilliant documentary for anybody to watch. 

exit option to REIT/ INVIT holders

SEBI has vide two identical circulars dated 17th July, 2020 made rules giving exit option to dissenting holders in Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and Infrastructure Investment Trusts (INvIT). Dissenting unit holders means those who have not voted in favour of the resolution under regulation 22(6A) or regulation 22(8) of the SEBI (REIT) Regulations or Regulation 22(5C) or Regulation 22(7) of the SEBI (InvIT) Regulations. 

These sub regulations pertain to trustee and investment manager seeking delisting of the units and securing approval of the unit holders for the same AND change in sponsor or designated sponsor or change in control of sponsor or designated sponsor and seeking approval of the unit holders for the same. 

Under both these exit option regulations, detailed provisions have been made in respect of what acquirer and investment manager is required to do in sequential fashion, the escrow account to be created, price to be arrived at, Letter of Offer to be given, meeting to be convened of the unit holders for voting and submission of compliance report thereon. 

Copies of SEBI circular can be found 

InvIT regulations

ReIT Regulations

Aakrosh

Revisited the 1980 Govind Nihalani arthouse movie Aakrosh starring Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Amrish Puri, Smita Patil (in a brief role). Written by Vijay Tendulkar the film revolves around the alleged murder of his wife by an adivasi wood cutter. Naseer takes up the case as his first lawyerly assignment as the court assigned defence counsel with Amrish Puri acting as the prosecution counsel. There are a series of mysterious incidents involving Naseer which leads him to believe that all that is related to the case. Nihalani has managed to put in an under current of Hitchcockian suspense throughout the movie. Classic case of upper caste domination over the adivasis and trampling of their rights to justice. It is a deadly movie by any standards. The intensity of Naseer and Om Puri is stunning in its magnificience. Superb screenplay and camera work. Govind Nihalani has gone on to direct such brilliant movies as Ardh Satya, Tamas, Party among others. 

Insurance claims -

IRDA has issued a circular dated 16th July, 2020 wherein they have recognised make shift or temporary hospitals erected during the covid pandemic by the respective governments as recognised hospitals and claims to be allowed in respect thereto. Further where any network hospital provider has made arrangements for such make shift or temporary hospitals, such hospitals shall also be considered for cash less claims. 

This is a very important advisory from IRDA in respect of claims during covid pandemic. 

Gist of the circular is as below:

   Reference is invited to IRDAI circular Ref. No: IRDAI/HLT/REG/CIR/054/03/2020 dated 04^th March, 2020, specifying guidelines on handling of claims reported under Covid-19.

 

2.        In view of increase in number of COVID-19 cases, in order to leverage on the extant healthcare systems put in place, it is important to recognise the make-shift or temporary hospitals permitted by Government for settlement of health insurance claims for insurance companies.

 

3.        In the above backdrop, in order to ensure that the costs of treatment of COVID – 19 are covered as per the terms and conditions of policy contract, a make-shift or temporary hospital permitted by Central / State government shall be regarded as a hospital or network provider and insurers shall settle the claims as per the following norms.

 

a)      Where a policyholder who is diagnosed as Covid-19 positive is admitted into any such make-shift or temporary hospital on the advice of a medical practitioner or appropriate Government authorities, notwithstanding the definition of hospital specified in the terms and conditions of policy contract, the treatment costs shall be settled by insurers. 

 

b)      Where any network provider has set up any such make-shift or temporary hospital, such make-shift or temporary hospital shall be regarded as the extension of the network provider and cashless facility shall be made available.  

 

4.        Insurers are advised to expedite settlement of all such claims in accordance to the applicable regulatory framework.

 

5.        All insurers are also advised to incorporate the above norms in claim guidelines and inform to all the TPAs immediately.

 

6.        These guidelines shall come in to force with immediate effect.

 

7.        These guidelines are issued under the powers vested with Regulation 27 (vi) of IRDAI (Health Insurance) Regulations, 2016 read with Section 34 (1) of Insurance Act, 1938.

 

Copy of the circular can be found here