HIGH COURT OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR AT JAMMU OWP No. 221/2005 CMP no. 275/2005 Date of Decision: 11.12.2008 Ram Pyari Sharma v. Life Insurance Corporation of India and Ors. CORAM: MR. JUSTICE J. P. SINGH, JUDGE. Appearing counsel: For Petitioner(s) : Mrs. Surinder Kour, Advocate. For Respondent(s) : Mr. Amur Kotwal, Advocate. i) Whether approved for reporting in Press/Journal/Media : Yes/No ii) Whether to be reported in Digest/Journal : Yes/No _______________________________________________ ________________________________ Ram Pyari Sharma, the petitioner, has filed this petition seeking quashing of Life Insurance Corporation, Udhampur’s order of March 06, 2004 terminating her Agency with effect from March 01, 2004 besides issuance of directions to Life Insurance Corporation of India and its functionaries to permit her to work as LIC Agent. Petitioner’s learned counsel, Mrs. Surinder Kour submits that termination of petitioner’s agency being one under Clause 16 of the Life Insurance Corporation of India (Agents) Regulations, 1972, was bad in law as no Show Cause Notice in terms of proviso appended to Clause 16 of the Regulations had been issued by the respondents to the petitioner. Respondents learned Counsel, Mr. Amur Kotwal, on the other hand, submits that no such notice as contemplated by the proviso to Clause 16 of 2 the Regulations was required to be issued to the petitioner whose Agency had been terminated by the Corporation under Clause 13 of the Regulations because of her failure to procure requisite business in the relevant Agency year in terms of Regulation 9. Learned counsel further submitted that as the petitioner had been terminated thrice during the course of her Agency i.e. firstly on 1.3.1999 for procuring insufficient business and thereafter on 1.3.2003 and 1.3.2004 for similar reasons so her request for reinstatement too was impermissible as such a course was specifically prohibited under the Corporation Guidelines issued in this behalf. I have considered the submissions made by the learned counsel for the parties at the Bar. Termination of Agency under Clause 16 of the Life Insurance Corporation of India (Agents) Regulations,1972 (hereinafter referred to as “the Regulations”) contemplates an act of omission or commission by an Agent in respect of the functions he is obliged to do during the currency of his Agency in terms of Regulation 8 (2) (a) to (d) and 8 (3) (a) to (d) of the Regulations and in the event of any such termination based on violation of the provisions of Section 8 (2) and (3) of the Regulations, a notice is compulsorily required to be issued by the Corporation to an Agent whose Agency is intended to be terminated. No such notice before termination of Agency may, however, be required when termination is under Clause 13 of the Regulations, based on failure of the Agent to secure minimum amount of business in the relevant Agency year in terms of Clause 9 of the Regulations. 3 Petitioner’s termination having been effected by the respondents under Clause 13 of the Regulations, no notice before such termination was thus required to be issued to her. Petitioner’s counsel’s submission that no show cause notice having been issued to the petitioner before issuing the impugned order would render the impugned order illegal is, thus, rejected as mis- conceived. That apart, having already been allowed two reinstatements on earlier occasions, the petitioner would not be entitled to any further reinstatement in terms of the guidelines which the Corporation had issued on the subject. Petitioner’s representation against her termination was, thus, unsustainable and no orders were required to be passed by the respondents thereon as the petitioner, in terms of the Corporation guidelines, is not entitled to seek restoration of her Agency for the third time. For all what has been said above, I do not find the respondents to have violated the provisions of the Act which governed the terms and conditions of the petitioner’s Agency. There being no merit in petitioner’s writ petition, it is, accordingly, dismissed. (J. P. Singh) Judge JAMMU: 11.12.2008: Tilak, Secy.