MAHARANI KUSUMKUMARI Vs. KUSUMKUMARI JADEJA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The question for decision in this appeal by special leave is whether a petition under S. 11 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, for declaring the marriage of the petitioner as nullity is maintainable after the death of the petitioner's spouse.

(2.) Appellant 1, hereinafter referred to as 'the Maharani', was married to Maharaja Rameshwarsinghji in 1960 and a daughter, appellant 2, was born of the wedlock in 1964. The relationship between the husband and the wife thereafter ceases to be cordial and the appellants started living in Bombay and the Maharaja within his estate in Madhya Pradesh. According to the case of respondent 1, the Maharaja decided to remarry without legally separating from the appellant Maharani. The respondent who is a relation of the Maharaja's mother, respondent 2, was misled both by the Maharaja and his mother in believing that the first marriage of the Maharaja had been dissolved and under that belief she married the Maharaja and the couple got several issues. In 1974 when the Maharaja died, an application for grant of Letters of Administration was filed by the appellant Maharani; and the respondent applied for probate on the basis of an alleged will which is denied by the appellants. The proceedings are still pending. In this background respondent 1 filed the present application under S. 11 of the Hindu Marriage Act for declaring her marriage as nullity. The Maharaja's mother was impleaded as the sole respondent. When the appellants learnt about the case, they intervened and were joined as parties.

(3.) The appellants challenged the maintainability of the application on the ground that the marriage could not be declared nullity after thedeath of the Maharaja. Both the trial court and the High court have rejected the appellants' plea.