G SOMASHEKAR Vs. JAYAMMA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The tone for this judgment can be set by what the following clauses 39 & 40 from the Magna Carta of 1215 read:

(2.) This Reference arose from a learned Single Judge's order dtd. 17/1/2017 made under Sec. 9 of the Karnataka High Court Act, 1961. She doubted the correctness of the Division Bench's view in ANTHONY SWAMY vs. CHOWRAMMA,ILR 1989 KAR 1284 that 'once a petition for grant of probate or letters of administration is contested, that petition automatically takes the form of a regular suit... in which the petitioner shall be the plaintiff and the person who appeared to oppose the grant shall be the defendant...'. Therefore, she opined that the proviso to Article 11(l)(ii)(3) of Schedule II to the Karnataka Court Fees and Suits Valuation Act, 1958 (hereafter '1958 Act'), would become applicable and as a consequence, ad valorem court fee is payable. Another Division Bench inter alia comprising one of us (Dixit, J.), directed 'the Registrar (Judicial) to place the petition before the Hon'ble Chief Justice on the administrative side for necessary orders'. Hon'ble the Chief Justice, having constituted this Bench has placed the Reference at its hands.

(3.) FOUNDATIONAL FACTS OF THE CASE: