G S NAYYAR Vs. KAUSHALYA RANI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In this case an interesting question of law has been raised by the respondents by an application (C.M. 508 of 1973) and it has been contended that the appeal filed by the opposite party and registered as R.F.A. 178 of 1970 be treated as a first appeal from order instead of an appeal from a decree with necessary consequences of dispensing with the printing of the record and its hearing by a Single Judge of the Court.

(2.) The legal proceedings were initiated by the respondent Smt. Kaushalya Rani in the Court of the District Judge, Delhi by a petition under section 272/278 of the Indian Succession Act 39 of 1925 praying for grant of letters of administration with a copy of the will annexed in respect of the estate of the deceased Shri Ram Rakha MalNayyar, her father, who died at Delhi on 1st October, 1964 after having executed a will dated 3rd February, 1964 registered on 17th February, 1964. The petition was contested by Shri G. S. Nayyar, appellant, son of the deceased. The petition was tried and the District Judge by order dated 14th January, 1970 held that the will in dispute had been duly proved and so he granted to Smt. Kaushalya Rani letters of administration with a copy of the will attached.

(3.) Aggrieved by this order, G. S. Nayyar (contesting respondent in the Court below) filed an appeal in this Court on 15th March, 1970. He described it a Regular First Appeal but paid a fixed court-fees stamp of only Rs. 2.75, presumably under Article 11 of Schedule II of the Court Fees Act. On the raising of an objection by the office the counsel for the petitioner stated that the appeal had properly been classified as R.F.A. and had been filed under section 299 of the Indian Succession Act 39 of 1925 (hereinafter referred to as the Act). The matter was consequently placed for admission before a learned Single Judge of the Court and on the statement of the counsel that the order was appealable under section 299 of the Act, the appeal was admitted subject to the question being examined at the time of arguments. In accordance with the rules of the Court in regular first appeals, the record has to be printed and it appears that the appellant proceeded with the preparation of the records which was likely to take considerable time. The contesting respondent, time and again, moved applications in this Court for, dispensing with the printing of the record but did not succeed.