Summary
The Supreme Court dismissed the insured exporters’ appeal seeking conversion of a euro-denominated insurance award at the exchange rate on payment. Although the decree omitted a conversion date, the policy expressly fixed the Mumbai bank buying rate on shipment. Construing the decree consistently with that term gave effect to it; substituting the payment-date rate would create a new decree. The insurer’s payment based on the shipment-date rate and awarded interest fully satisfied the order.
Issues
- How an executing consumer forum should determine the currency-conversion date when the decree is silent but the insurance contract specifies it.
Provisions considered
- Section 25, Consumer Protection Act, 1986Execution enforces the existing order. Ambiguity may require interpretation, but that exercise cannot substitute a new decree. (¶¶ 16, 17, 18, 29)
- Clauses 13 and 17, Export credit insurance policyThe final liability was 90% of the covered loss; the express shipment-date Mumbai bank buying exchange rate governed conversion of the euro invoice into rupees. (¶¶ 3, 4, 19, 27, 29)
Held
- An executing court must enforce the judgment as it stands. Where material ambiguity exists, it must interpret the decree cautiously to give it true effect without drawing a new decree. (¶¶ 18, 21, 29)
- The relevant currency-conversion date should first be determined from an express contractual provision. Judicial selection of a suitable date under Forasol becomes necessary only if the contract does not determine it. (¶¶ 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
- Clause 17 fixed conversion at the Mumbai bank buying rate on the shipment date. Reading the decree as a whole with that term and its interest direction justified that rate; the lower fora’s payment-date interpretation impermissibly substituted a new decree. (¶¶ 4, 27, 28, 29)
- The insurer’s Rs.11,23,906 payment, calculated using the shipment-date conversion rate and the interest awarded by the consumer forum, fully complied with the final order. (¶¶ 29, 30)
Result
Appeal dismissed. NCDRC order upheld; the shipment-date exchange-rate payment with awarded interest fully satisfied the consumer award.