SHILPA RANA Vs. STATE (NCT OF DELHI)

JUDGEMENT

(1.) C.M. No. 18176/2017 (exemption) Exemption allowed subject to just exceptions. C.M. stands disposed of. FAO No.218/2017 and C.M. No.18175/2017 (stay)

(2.) This first appeal is filed by the appellant, petitioner in the trial court, impugning the judgment of the probate court below dated 25.3.2017 whereby the probate court has dismissed the petition for grant of letters of administration with the Will annexed dated 20.4.2012 of the deceased mother of the petitioner one Smt. Pooja Nijhawan. The probate court below has dismissed the petition seeking letters of administration on the ground that the Will talks of exclusion of other legal heirs but the other legal heirs have not been made a party to the petition. The court below has also held that the appellant has not filed any proof that she was the daughter of the deceased Smt. Pooja Nijhawan.

(3.) In my opinion, the court below has unfortunately gone on a total off tangent because if a person avers that there are no other legal heirs, and citation has also been issued in the newspaper for inviting objections to the petition, but no one has come forward claiming to be the legal heir of the deceased mother Smt. Pooja Nijhawan, then, the statement of oath of the appellant has to be taken as sufficient for the purpose of the appellant being taken as the sole natural legal heir of the deceased mother Smt. Pooja Nijhawan. This is all the more so because if a probate is wrongly granted alleging that there is only one legal heir whereas there were other legal heirs, then, the other legal heirs can always apply to the court for revocation of the probate under section 263 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925. Therefore there was no reason for the court below to decline the grant of the letters of administration with the Will annexed simply on the ground that allegedly there are other legal heirs who have not been made parties to the case. A note in a Will which has used a general expression of 'exclusion of other legal heirs' will not mean that by magic some imaginary legal heirs will come into existence when there is only one sole natural legal heir of the deceased being the appellant and who was the daughter of the deceased Smt. Pooja Nijhawan.