ALAGIRISWAMI J.

The suit, out of which the present appeal arises, was filed by the respondent for recovery of a sum of Rs. 12, 500 due on an insurance policy taken by her husband, Sundaresa Iyer, on 2nd February, 1954. Sundaresa Iyer died on 18th August, 1955. The appellant-Corporation, which became a successor in interest of the insurance company with which the respondent's husband had insured his life, finally repudiated its liability on 10th August, 1959. The suit claim was in the alternative for a sum of Rs. 1, 865-10-0 being the premium paid by the respondent's husband. The appellant Corporation contended that the answers given by the insured to various questions in the proposal and the personal statement were false and false to his knowledge and that the deceased having died within two years of the policy taking effect, it was open to the insurer to repudiate the policy under section 45 of the Insurance Act, 1938, irrespective of the fact whether the answers contained in the proposals and the personal statement are material or not and that in any case, the deliberate suppression by the deceased about his illness, a material fact, would invalidate the policy. The tr