Open iDraf
Namita Singha Being Dead, Substituted By Her Heirs v. Joydeb Chandra Paul

Namita Singha Being Dead, Substituted By Her Heirs
v.
Joydeb Chandra Paul

(High Court Of Judicature At Calcutta)

Civil First Appeal No. 237 Of 1990 | 21-04-2006


Bhaskar Bhattacharya, J.

1. This first appeal is at the instance of a caveator in proceedings for grant of probate and is directed against the judgment and decree dated 12th August, 1989 passed by the learned chief Judge, City Civil Court at Calcutta in O. C. Suit No. 8 of 1986 thereby granting probate in favour of the respondent.

2. The respondents herein filed an application before the learned Chief Judge, City Civil Court at Calcutta for grant of probate of the last Will and testament allegedly executed by one Smt. Kamala Bala Dutta, widow of late Dulal Dutta. In the application for grant of probate, it was disclosed that the testatrix was a childless widow and that she left behind eleven persons as her near relations. Of those eleven persons, three were the sons of the pre-deceased brother of the testatrix, four were the daughters of the pre-deceased brother, two were the sons of pre-deceased sisters and the remaining two were the daughters of the pre-deceased sisters.

3. It appears that most of the aforesaid alleged near relations were served by Order V Rule 20 of the Code of Civil Procedure through publication in the daily newspaper.

4. Of the aforesaid persons, the appellant alone contested the said probate proceedings and the appellant happens to be one of the own sisters of the respondent.

5. By the Will, the immovable property belonging to the deceased testatrix has been given to the respondent alone.

6. The application was contested by present appellant contending that the deceased was all along staying with her and no such Will at all was executed by the deceased. It was further contended that the provisions contained in the Will were unnatural.

7. The learned Probate Court on consideration of the materials on record came to the conclusion that Will in question was the last Will and testament of the deceased, that the same was duly executed and attested and that there was no suspicious circumstances surrounding the execution of the Will and consequently, granted probate.

8. Being dissatisfied, the appellant has come up with the present appeal.

9. Initially, the learned advocate for the appellant argued the matter on merit on the basis of materials on record but subsequently, came up with an application under Order XLI, Rule 27 of the Code of Civil Procedure for taking into consideration the deed of purchase in respect of the property covered by the Will and further drawing attention of the Court to the fact that the deceased being a childless widow, the heirs of her husband are her real heirs according to the Hindu Succession Act, whereas, the probate was obtained by giving notice to the heirs of the father of the testatrix who are not at all the heirs of the deceased. In the application for additional evidence, the deed of purchase by which the testatrix acquired title to the property along with her husband has been annexed and at the same time, the names of some of the heirs of the deceased husband of the testatrix have also been disclosed.

10. The aforesaid application has been opposed by the respondent but the fact that the property was purchased by virtue of the sale deed annexed with the application or that the testatrix had heirs from the husbands side as mentioned in the application were never disputed.

11. In view of the aforesaid fact, we have decided to allow the application and we have taken into consideration the statements made in the application for additional evidence.

12. Since, the facts contained in the application for additional evidence are not at all disputed and nor did the appellant pray for giving evidence of rebuttal, we have accepted the position that the testatrix purchased the property by virtue of the aforesaid deed and have also taken note of the fact that there are heirs of the husband of the testatrix.

13. Once, it is established that the property was purchased in the joint names of testatrix and her husband and the husband had pre-deceased her, there is no dispute that according to the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, the heirs of the husband of the deceased are her real heirs and if there is no such heirs of the husband of the deceased, only in such a case, the heirs of the father of the deceased can inherit as heir. It is an admitted position that in this case no notice was at all served upon the heirs of the husband of the testatrix and the propounder of the Will made false statement as if the eleven persons named in the application are only the heirs though none of them are heirs according to law.

14. In such a situation, in exercise of our power under Section 263 of the Indian Succession Act, we propose to revoke the grant of probate in favour of the respondent on the ground of want of citation upon the heirs of the deceased. We find that the said probate was obtained by suppressing the real fact that heirs of the husband of the testatrix was her heirs according to Hindu Succession Act in case of her intestate succession and the aforesaid fact also escaped the notice of the learned Trial Judge. It is not a case that the property was inherited by the testatrix from her father.

15. We, therefore, propose to revoke the grant on the basis of aforesaid suppression of material fact which according to us is a sufficient cause for revocation of the grant.

16. Once, we hold that the present appellant or respondent are not at all the heirs of the deceased testatrix, the result will be that the present appellant will have no locus standi even to lodge caveat or oppose the grant. We are quite conscious that for the purpose of revocation of a grant, the fact that the attention of the Court about material irregularity in obtaining the grant has been drawn at the instance of a person who has no right to lodge caveat, is inconsequential. (See : Elizabeth Antony v. Michel Charles John Chown Lengere reported in AIR 1990 SC 1576 [LQ/SC/1990/242] ).

17. We, therefore, revoke the grant of probate in exercise of our power under Section 263 of the Indian Succession Act and direct the respondent to make necessary application for amendment of the application for grant disclosing the heirs of the husband of the testatrix in terms of Section 15 of the Hindu Succession Act and to give citation to those persons. The Probate Court will decide the matter afresh after citation upon the natural heirs and legal representatives of the deceased testatrix as mentioned above and will proceed in accordance with law. The present appellant, however, will have no locus standi to oppose the said grant as she is not an heir of the testatrix according to the Hindu Succession Act.

18. We, thus, allow the appeal and revoke the probate on the ground mentioned above. In the facts and circumstances, there will be, however, no order as to costs.

19. Pravendu Narayan Sinha, J.

I agree.

Advocates List

For the Appearing Parties Dilip Kumar Mondal, Jiban Ratan Chatterjee, Rajat Kumar Das, Sandip Roy Chowdhury, Souradipto Banerjee, Sudipta Kumar Bhatacharya, Advocates.

For Petitioner
  • Shekhar Naphade
  • Mahesh Agrawal
  • Tarun Dua
For Respondent
  • S. Vani
  • B. Sunita Rao
  • Sushil Kumar Pathak

Bench List

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE BHASKAR BHATTACHARYA

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE PRAVENDU NARAYAN SINHA

Eq Citation

AIR 2006 CAL 230

2006 (3) CHN 281

LQ/CalHC/2006/253

HeadNote

A. Probate — Grant of — Revocation of — Grant of probate obtained by suppressing real fact that heirs of husband of deceased were her heirs according to Hindu Succession Act, and no notice was served upon heirs of husband of testatrix — Respondent propounder of Will made false statement as if eleven persons named in application were only heirs though none of them were heirs according to law — Grant of probate revoked in exercise of power under S. 263, Indian Succession Act — Inheritance and Succession — Probate — Revocation of grant of probate — Hindu Succession Act, 1956 — S. 15 — Indian Succession Act, 1925 — S. 263 — Civil Procedure Code, 1908, Or. XLI R. 27