Late Smt. Shiva Dubey wife of the complainant / respondent obtained an insurance policy from the respondent on 08.11.1991.  She having expired on 17.9.1993 a claim in terms of the policy was submitted by the petitioner / complainant to the respondent.  The claim having not been paid, he approached the concerned District Forum by way of a consumer complaint.  

2.      The complaint was resisted by the insurer which pointed out that the policy issued to the deceased having lapsed in May, 1992, a declaration form was submitted by her on 29.1.1993, declaring her to be in a good state of health and thereafter the policy was renewed.  It was further stated in the written version filed by the respondent that the deceased was suffering from breast cancer for which she was operated at Tata Memorial Hospital in August, 1992, but despite the said disease she had submitted a false declaration while obtaining revival of the insurance policy.  It was for this reason that the insurance claim was rejected vide letter dated 03.2.1999.

3.      The District Forum having ruled in favour of the complainant, the respondent LIC of India approached the concerned State Commission by way of an appeal.  Vide impugned order dated 13.7.2017, the State

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Commission allowed the said appeal holding that the deceased was suffering from breast cancer at the time she obtained revival of the policy and that she had submitted a false declaration form for the purpose of obtaining the revival.  Being aggrieved from the order passed by the state Commission, the petitioner / complainant is before this Commission by way of the present revision petition.

4.      The main question which arises for consideration in this petition is as to whether the deceased was suffering from breast cancer either at the time she took the policy or at the time she got the said policy revived.  The policy was obtained on 08.11.1991, whereas its revival was obtained on 29.1.1993.

5.      The petitioner / complainant himself has filed a letter dated 08.11.1996 sent by him to the respondent.  In the aforesaid letter, he inter-alia stated that in August, 1982 / 1992 his wife developed a cyst in her armpit for which she was initially treated by private doctors but later at Tata Memorial Hospital where she was operated.  It was further stated in the aforesaid letter that in ‘July, 1983’, she lost her appetite and her eyes turned yellow and she was treated for Jaundice and thereafter, she was under treatment of a doctor in Agra for about two months, till she expired on 17.9.1993.  However, in the English translation of the aforesaid letter, the petitioner has given the time when the deceased lost her appetite as

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July, 1993.   Even if it is assumed for the sake of arguments that the deceased was operated at Tata Memorial Hospital in or around August, 1992, the declaration submitted by her while seeking revival of the insurance policy on29.1.1993 was patently false since she did not disclose at that time that she had been operated for breast cancer at Tata Memorial Hospital and she claimed to be in a good state of health.  As far as the record of Tata Memorial Hospital is concerned, the respondent could not produce the same since the said record was not traceable as informed by the hospital vide its letter dated 07.12.1998.  Even in his affidavit by way of evidence, the complainant did not claim that the breast cancer was detected after the deceased had obtained the revival of her insurance policy on 29.1.1993.  He rather chose to altogether deny the treatment of the deceased at Tata Memorial Hospital.  No record of the treatment of the deceased at Tata Memorial Hospital has been produced to prove that her treatment in the aforesaid hospital was undertaken after 29.1.1993.  A perusal of the letter dated 02.6.1997 sent by the complainant to the insurer would show that the treatment of the deceased in August, 1992 was expressly admitted by him in the aforesaid letter. He expressly wrote to the insurer that in August, 1992 they had come back from the hospital after the surgery of the deceased Shiva Dubey.  No record from the Tata Memorial Hospital or elsewhere has been produced

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by the complainant to prove that the deceased has fully recovered after her surgery at Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai.  No discharge summary has been filed by him though such a summary is provided by every hospital to every patient undergoing surgery as an Indoor Patient.

6.      For the reasons stated hereinabove, I have no hesitation in holding that the deceased was still suffering from cancer at the time she obtained renewal of the insurance policy on 29.1.1993.  The view taken by the State Commission therefore does not call for any interference by this Commission in exercise of its revisional jurisdiction.  The revision petition being devoid of any merits is hereby dismissed with no order as to costs.