Valid Pollution Certificate is not mandatory to claim accident insurance - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 4, 2022
A post is being shared on social media claiming that the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDAI) passed a law allowing insurance companies to decline accident claims from those who do not possess a Pollution under Control (PUC) certificate on the day of the accident. This rule would be effective from 1 November 2022 as per the claim. Let’s fact-check this post through this article.
Claim: Effective from 1 November 2022, any accident claim will not be entertained if, on the day of the accident, vehicle does not have a valid Pollution under Control (PUC) certificate.
Fact: On 20 August 2020, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDAI) issued a circular to insurance companies asking them to collect a valid PUC certificate from the insurers during the renewal of their policy. This is as per the directions given by the Supreme Court of India in 2017. IRDAI released another circular on 26 August 2020, after they observed media reports misrepresenting the earlier circular. In this, IRDAI  clarified that not holding a valid PUC certificate is not a valid reason for denying any claim under a motor insurance policy. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Upon doing a keyword search on the internet , we came across few media reports (here, here and here) from August 2020 regarding a circular released by IRDAI.
Reportedly,  IRDAI issued a circular to the insurance companies to comply with the Supreme Court of India’s direction (also read) to ensure that the vehicle must have a valid PUC certificate at the time of renewal of motor vehicle insurance. The circular which was released on 20 August 2020 by IRDAI can be read here.
Upon noticing misinterpreted news reports about the circular, IRDAI released another circular six days later on 26 August 2020. In this circular, they said ‘..there are some misleading media reports to the effect that if there is no valid PUC certificate at the time of accident, claim under a motor insurance policy is not payable.’ IRDAI clarified that IRDAI clarified that not holding a valid PUC certificate is not a valid reason for denying any claim under a motor insurance policy. This circular can be read here.
To sum up, this post falsely claims that a law which does not allow insurers to claim accident insurance if they do not have a valid PUC Pollution Under Control certificate is passed by  IRDAI.