G JAYASHANKARAIAH ALIAS JAYASHANKAR Vs. T N GANGADHARIAH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE facts of the case are : t. G. Nanjamma, the wife of the appellant died on 11-5-1994 at Bangalore. She was a Teacher at the Government Lower primary School, Pathapalya. She died whilst in service. The appellant-widower, claiming the service benefits of the deceased, petitioned the lower Court under S. 372 of the indian Succession Act, 1925, for a succession certificate thereof. The respondent-father of the deceased, resisted the petition. The objection was that the appellant and the deceased had never lived in matrimony from inception, and had lived apart till the death of the deceased, though they were not formally divorced. The deceased-Nanjamma had executed a Will in favour of the respondent, dated 9-5-1994, two days before her death. The appellant had allegedly married one Smt. Lalitha even during the subsistence of the marriage with the deceased. This fact having coming to the knowledge of the deputy Director of Public Instructions, kolar, the appellant had been denied the service benefits of the deceased.

(2.) ON these facts, the trial Court had framed the following issues for its consideration :-

(3.) SHRI Chandrakanth Goulay appearing for the appellant contends as follows : the suspicious circumstances surrounding the will have been completely overlooked. Namely, that the stamp paper on which the will is executed indicates the date as 4-3-1994. The date affixed by the stamp vendor is 19-3-1994. The deceased has described herself as daughter of Gangadharaiah, the respondent, and not as wife of the appellant. The text of the Will is made to fit the page on which the signature of the deceased appears and was obviously written on a blank paper obviously signed by the deceased, earlier. The scribe and witnesses to the will have signed overleaf when they could very well have signed on the first page.