The duty of the insured to disclose material facts is three-fold: a duty to disclose material facts; a duty not to misrepresent material facts; and a duty not to make fraudulent claims.

JUDGMENT :

R.K. Dash, J. - The aforementioned two Letters Patent Appeals arise out of common judgment passed by a learned Single Judge in First Appeal Nos. 1 and 2 of 1986 confirming the judgment and decree of the Subordinate Judge, Karanjia, in Money Suit Nos. 9 and 10 of 1983. Therefore, this judgment is passed which shall govern both the above appeals.

2. Undisputed facts leading to these appeals lie in a narrow compass:

One Devakilal Agarwala of Karanjia during his life time had taken two Life Insurance Policies, one for Rs. 80,000/- on 4.2.1971 and the other for Rs. 40,000/- on 13.9.1978. While both the policies were in force, the insured suffered from diabetes for which he was brought to S.C.B. Medica 1 College & Hospital and from there he was taken to Jaslok Hospital, Bombay for treatment. While undergoing treatment in Jaslok Hospital, he expired on 23.6.1982 on account of cardiorespiratory arrest due to infraction following coronary by-pass surgery for triple vessel coronary disease as revealed from the certificate granted by the hospital authority, Ext. E. his dead body was brought to Karanjia where it was cremated. Intimation regarding his death was given to the insurer, namely, Life Insurance Corporation of India (for short, the Corporation'). Claims were advanced by the successors of the assured (hereinafter referred to as 'plaintiffs') but the same were repudiated by the Corporation on the ground that the policies had become void because an untrue and incorrect statement about his state of health had been made by the assured when he submitted the proposal to insure his life. This led the plaintiffs to file two suits in the Court.of the learned Subordinate Judge, Karanjia. The case of the Corporation was that the deceased-assured when offered proposals to insure his life was quite aware that he was suffering from diabetes. In the proposal statement he gave a false answer, inasmuch as with regard to question No. 7 that whether he had ever passed blood, pus, albumen or sugar in the urine, his answer was emphatic 'no'. Had he given true statement, the Corporation would not have accepted the proposal and insured his life. Since he fraudulently suppressed the material fact, the Corporation rightly repudiated the contract. The Trial Court upon hearing, negatived the stand taken by the Corporation and decree both the suits against which the Corporation preferred appeals. The learned Single Judge having taken into consideration the law involved and the submissions made, confirmed the Trial Court's judgment and dismissed the appeals.

3. One of the contentions of the Corporation before the learned Single Judge was that the assured when was admitted in the Jaslok Hospital had made a statements Dr. Thomas, marked Ext. F, that he was suffering from disbetes since 15 years and this document having been brought in evidence on admission, its content as aforesaid should have been taken as correct to come to a finding that the insured had withheld material facts at the time of giving proposal to insure his life with the Corporation. This contention was repelled by the plaintiffs bom on facts and law. Learned Single Judge on consideration of the submissions observed:

Once a document is marked on admission, contents thereof are also treated to be admitted. Mr. Das, however, is correct in his submission that contents may have been admitted, not its truth. Truth or correctness is to be ascertained from the evidence. A party admitting a document has right to explain that though the document contains such a statement, it is not correct.

The learned Judge on discussion of the evidence of PW 1, son of the deceased-insured that his father when taken to Bombay for treatment was not in a condition to make any statement, nor did any doctor take down the history of his aliment, came to hold that the deceased did not make any statement to Dr. Thomas that he was suffering from diabetes since 15 years. In these Letters Patent Appeals it has been urged on