KAMLA WANTI Vs. L I C OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a plaintiff's second appeal in a suit for recovery of Rs. 13,300/- on the foot of an Insurance Policy on the life of one Nana Lal Jagjeewan Sanghavi deceased. The plaintiff was his widow and having died in the course of the appeal in this Court, she is now represented by her heirs and legal representatives.

(2.) The proposal for insurance is dated 30th March. 1964 and was accepted vide letter/receipt issued by the defendant Life Insurance Corporation of India, Ext. 8. The insured appears to have been aged about 56 years at the time of the proposal for insurance and died of "Heart Failure" on 29th October, 1965. The plaintiff, being the nominee appointed by the insured, claimed the amount of insurance, but her claim having been repudiated by the defendant Life Insurance Corporation of India, she filed the suit giving rise to this second appeal. The suit has been dismissed by both the courts below on the ground that the deceased had suffered from carbuncle and diabetes; that he suppressed this fact in the personal statement made by him along with his proposal for the insurance: and that the contract of insurance was void on account of the said misrepresentation.

(3.) I have heard learned counsel for the parties. It is common ground that the deceased having died within two years of taking the insurance policy; Section 45 of the Insurance Act, 1938, is out of the way, and the matter is governed by Section 19 of the Contract Act which runs as under: