Nalgonda Commission Orders Post Office to Compensate PMJJBY Nominee

The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission at Nalgonda has held postal authorities guilty of deficiency in service regarding the handling of a Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) subscriber's premium payments. In an order issued on July 31, 2026, the consumer court directed the postal department to compensate policy nominee Moloth Suresh and bear the costs of litigation following a dispute linked to postal branches in Choutapally and Huzurnagar.

The legal proceedings were initiated after Moloth Suresh, the son and designated nominee of the deceased policyholder Moloth Lala, filed a complaint against the Grade-I Post Master of Choutapally, the manager of POSB Bank in Huzurnagar, and the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC).

Moloth Lala had enrolled in the PMJJBY insurance scheme through the post office. Following his death on June 15, 2024, Suresh submitted a claim to receive the death benefit. However, LIC rejected the insurance claim on the grounds that the full renewal premium for the 2024-25 period had not been received, stating that the insurance risk had therefore not commenced prior to the subscriber's death.

Postal authorities disputed LIC's position, stating that the renewal premium was automatically debited from Lala's account on June 1, 2024. They stated that the funds were remitted to LIC through SBI on June 6, 2024, before the subscriber's death, maintaining that LIC was solely responsible for rejecting the claim.

In response, LIC told the commission that the rejection was caused by a premium shortfall and noted that it had repeatedly alerted postal authorities about discrepancies in their remittances. During the proceedings, LIC further informed the commission that it had eventually settled the insurance claim in March 2026.

After reviewing the case, the consumer commission held the postal authorities responsible for deficiency in service in handling the premium remittance and ordered them to pay compensation to Suresh along with litigation costs.