TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2000 (12) TMI 894
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....adjudication of which a proceeding under Article 226 of the Constitution is not the proper forum. The contention on behalf of the Corporation was that the writ petition should be dismissed as not maintainable leaving it to the writ petitioner, respondent no.1 herein, to file a civil suit for enforcement of her claim. The factual backdrop of the case relevant for the purpose of the present proceeding may be stated thus : Late Naval Kishore Goel, husband of Smt. Asha Goel - respondent No.1, was an employee of M/s Digvijay Woollen Mills Limited at Jamnagar as a Labour Officer. He submitted a proposal for a life insurance policy at Meerut in the State of U.P. on 29th May, 1979 which was accepted and the policy bearing No.48264637 for a sum of Rs. 1,00,000 (Rs. One lakh) was issued by the Corporation in his favour. The insured passed away on 12th December, 1980 at the age of 46 leaving behind his wife, a daughter and a son. The cause of death was certified as acute Myocardial Infarction and Cardiac arrest. The respondent No.1 being nominee of the deceased under the policy informed the Divisional Manager, Meerut City, about the death of her husband, submitted the claim along with other p....
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....ion of the Corporation against maintainability of the writ petition. Then the learned judge further considered the objection raised on behalf of the Corporation that the case involves disputed questions of fact for determination of which it will be necessary to record evidence and writ jurisdiction of the High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution should not be exercised in such a case. He was not inclined to hold that the matter involves disputed questions of fact just because the Corporation produced a document which is inconsistent with those produced by the writ petitioner. The learned Judge did not feel satisfied that this is a fit case in which the Corporation should be granted liberty to lead evidence before the High Court. Examining the matter on merits the learned single Judge referred to the provisions of section 45 of the Insurance Act, 1938 which imposes certain restrictions on the scope of repudiation of a claim by the insurer and held that the Corporation has not brought on record satisfactory evidence to establish any of the conditions envisaged in the second part of section 45. The learned Judge refused to draw a conclusion that the deceased was having heart a....
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....on on the point in these words: In these circumstances we are of opinion that even if we are inclined to reject Mr. Paranjapes submission that such relief could not be granted in exercise of the writ jurisdiction there was some substance in the complaint that the appellants should have been given the opportunity to lead evidence to discharge the onus of justifying the rejection of the claim which is on them. Dealing with the contention that the case pleaded by the Corporation comes within the scope of section 45 of the Insurance Act, the Division Bench took the view that the matter will have to go back to writ court to enable the Corporation to prove that there was misrepresentation which will permit the appellants to reject the claim arising from the death of Naval Kishore Goel. While leaving the matter to the discretion of the writ judge the Division Bench observed that this is a fit matter in which the original records must be seen by the Court and also witnesses proving them and their contents. The Bench allowed the appeal on the following terms : Accordingly in this view of the matter we will be compelled to allow the appeal on the ground that the appellant should have h....
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.... is to be considered in the facts and circumstances of each case. While the jurisdiction of the High Court to entertain a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution cannot be denied altogether, Courts must bear in mind the self-imposed restriction consistently followed by High Courts all these years after the constitutional power came into existence in not entertaining writ petitions filed for enforcement of purely contractual rights and obligations which involve disputed questions of facts. The Courts have consistently taken the view that in a case where for determination of the dispute raised it is necessary to inquire into facts for determination of which it may become necessary to record oral evidence a proceeding under Article 226 of the Constitution is not the appropriate forum. The position is also well settled that if the contract entered between the parties provide an alternate forum for resolution of disputes arising from the contract, then the parties should approach the forum agreed by them and the High Court in writ jurisdiction should not permit them to by-pass the agreed forum of dispute resolution. At the cost of repetition it may be stated that in the abov....
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....petition under Article 226 of the Constitution. Similarly, where a plea of fraud is pleaded by the insurer and on examination is found prima facie to have merit and oral and documentary evidence may become necessary for determination of the issue raised then a writ petition is not an appropriate remedy. Coming to the question of scope of repudiation of claim of the insured or nominee by the Corporation, the provisions of section 45 of the Insurance Act is of relevance in the matter. The section provides, inter alia, that no policy of life insurance effected after the coming into force of this Act shall, after the expiry of two years from the date on which it was effected, be called in question by an insurer on the ground that a statement made in the proposal for insurance or in any report of a medical officer, or referee, or friend of the insured, or in any other document leading to the issue of the policy, was inaccurate or false, unless the insurer shows that such statement was on a material matter or suppressed facts which it was material to disclose and that it was fraudulently made by the policy-holder and that the policy-holder knew at the time of making it that the statem....
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....ppressed facts which it was material to disclose. Where the policy holder, who had been treated, a few months before he submitted a proposal for the insurance of his life with the insurance company by a physician of repute for certain serious ailments as anaemia, shortness of breath and asthma, not only failed to disclose in his answers to the questions put to him by the insurance company that he suffered from those ailments but he made a false statement to the effect that he had not been treated by any doctor for any such serious ailment, Held (i) that, judged by the standard laid down in s. 17, Contract Act, the policy holder was clearly guilty of a fraudulent suppression of material facts when he made his statements, which he must have known were deliberately false and hence, the policy issued to him relying on those statements was vitiated. (ii) The principle underlying the Explanation to s.19 of the Contract Act is that a false representation, whether fraudulent or innocent, is irrelevant if it has not induced the party to whom it is made to act upon it by entering into a contract. That principle did not apply in the instant case. The terms of the policy made it clear th....