Hon'ble Judges/Coram:
S. Abdul Nazeer and Deepak Gupta

JUDGMENT

Deepak Gupta, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. All these appeals are being decided by one common judgment since they arise out of a common order dated 08.06.2018 of the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, New Delhi, hereinafter referred to as 'the National Commission'.

3. Briefly stated the facts of the case are that most of the claimants, hereinafter referred to as 'the farmers', had grown Byadgi Chilli Crop during the year 2012-2013. Some of the farmers had some other crops. These farmers had stored their agricultural produce in a cold store run by a partnership firm under the name and style of Sreedevi Cold Storage, hereinafter referred to as 'the cold store'. These farmers also obtained loans from Canara Bank, hereinafter referred to as 'the Bank'. The loan was advanced by the Bank to each one of the farmers on security of the agricultural produce stored in the cold store. The cold store was insured with the United India Insurance Company Limited, hereinafter referred to as 'the insurance company'. A fire took place in the cold store on the night intervening 13.01.2014 and 14.01.2014. The entire building of the cold store and the entire stock of agricultural produce was destroyed.

4. After the fire, the cold store, which had taken out a comprehensive insurance policy, raised a claim with the insurance company but the claim of the cold store was repudiated by the insurance company mainly on the ground that the fire was not an accidental fire. The farmers had also issued notice to the insurance company in respect of the plant, machinery and building but this claim was repudiated by the insurance company on the additional ground that the farmers had no locus standi to make the claim as the insured was the cold store and not the farmers. It was further pleaded that Condition No. 8 of the insurance policy had been violated, and that there was no privity of contract between the farmers and the insurance company. Since the claims of the farmers were either rejected or not answered, they filed claim petitions against the cold store, the Bank and the insurance company in which the primary relief claimed was the value of the agricultural produce as on the date of fire and interest thereupon and each of the farmers also claimed damages of Rs. 1,00,000/- per head. There were 91 claim petitions filed and in most of them the