College's assurance of insurance a hoax?

As life is full of uncertainties getting oneself insured is a very common phenomenon practice these days Even educational institutes are getting their students insured against accident and untimely death so that their kin get some financial support in case of an unforeseen event Likewsie the University of Punersquos UoP started the student insurance scheme in 90s and currently around 9 lakh students studying in 650 affiliated colleges are the beneficiaries of the plan However MiD DAY discovered that the scheme managed by the varsityrsquos Studentsrsquo Welfare Department has failed miserably Unfulfilled claimsu00a0Out of the 53 cases reported in the varsity 38 were regarding death claims while the remaining 15 of cases related to accidents Of the total death claims 25 were unsettled In case of accident cases five claims were not settled Belowt Student Welfare Departmentrsquos Director Dr Pandit Shelke admitted that in many cases the colleges failed to submit the required document to the insurance company on time PicNiranjan Medhekar According to official documents of UoP out of 53 cases of deaths and accident recorded during the last academic year 30 cases have not be settled by the insurance companies This happened because the university failed to file the within six months from the date of the incident Speaking to MiD DAY Student Welfare Departmentrsquos Director Dr Pandit Shelke admitted that in many cases the colleges failed to submit the required document to the insurance company on time ldquoOut of the 25 cases that remained unsettled in 21 cases no one has applied for the insurance claim In the other four cases the insurance company didnrsquot receive some of required documentsrdquo he said When asked whorsquos responsible for not submitting the documents to claim the insurance amount Dr Shelke said ldquoIdeally itrsquos responsibility of the college to take initiative and submit the documents But in many cases neither the college nor parents come forward to claim the amountrdquo When contacted senior officials of The Oriental Insurance Company Ltd the financial institution with which the university had tied up refused to comment or share any information regarding the unsettled claims However a lady officer on condition of anonymity said that the company is in regular contact with the UoPrsquos Studentsrsquo Welfare Department ldquoWe canrsquot share any more information with the mediardquo she said Key glitch resolved In case of a studentrsquos death the key documents required while claiming the insurance amount are the FIR and postmortem reports However in many cases parents refuse autopsy and hence lose the eligibility to claim the amount Considering this fact the varsity has changed this norm and has excluded the postmortem report from the list of mandatory documentsldquoWhile doing an agreement with the insurance company this year we made it clear to them that the claim shouldnrsquot get rejected because of postmortem reportrdquo saidu00a0Dr Shelke Money matters During the 201112 academic year the varsity had tied up with The Oriental Insurance Company Ltd and had deposited Rs 9 lakh as the annual premium However this year the contract was awarded to United India Insurance Company Limited and UoP paid Rs 12 lakh as the yearly premium As per the policy the nominee of a deceased student received Rs 1 lakh while in case of accident a student can get up to Rs 50000 from the insurance company u00a0