Mr. Justice M.B. Shah, President—This case illustrates how the purpose of insurance coverage for indemnifying contemplated peril is frustrated by one or other method adopted by the Insurance Company and/or the casual manner in which insurance coverage is granted without proper verification and thereafter it is sought to be avoided on one or the other pretext.

2. It also highlights below mentioned facts and the requirements for change or reform of the age-old proposal and insurance form containing terms and conditions prescribed and followed by the Insurance Companies in India—

(i) mostly, no body can dispute that the insurance agents take the signature of the assured on a dotted line;

(ii) most of the terms and conditions of insurance policy contain various provisos and exclusion clauses which could not be understood easily even by the experts in the field, on occasions ambiguous;

(iii) the terms and conditions which are meant for understanding by the insured are mostly in a small print which would require strenuous reading by the insured, if at all he is vigilant;

(iv) insurance companies have not simplified their proposal form or the form of insurance policies for reasons best