MERETE SIMONSEN Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present petition has been filed seeking grant of letters of administration under sec. 228 read with sec. 276 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925, in respect of the Will and Testament dtd. 3/11/2008 executed by Late Mr. Surendra Prakash Sharma, who was a Danish citizen. He passed away in Denmark on 9/3/2013. At the time of his death, he was unmarried and died issueless. He had various properties in Denmark, along with certain accounts/deposits maintained with the State Bank of India (Specialised NRI Branch) in New Delhi (SBI). He executed his Will and Testament dtd. 3/11/2008 while cancelling his earlier Will and Testament dtd. 5/8/2005 and Codicil dtd. 12/9/2005. The contents of the Will are stated in paragraph 4 of the petition.

(2.) After the demise of the testator, the petition for administration of his estate by a court appointed administrator, was filed by one of the beneficiaries, Mr. Girish Kaushik, before the competent court i.e. Court of Aarhus, Denmark. The said court vide order dtd. 18/4/2013 had released the estate of the testator for administration by the petitioner.

(3.) The testator also maintained various accounts/deposits with SBI, as stated in paragraph 7 of the petition and the amounts and interest in respect of the said accounts/deposits have also accrued in favour of the beneficiaries. The SBI has refused to transfer the said amounts to the beneficiaries, in the absence of letters of administration by a competent court in India, in respect of the estate of the testator. Hence, this petition has been filed.