RAM CHANDER TALWAR Vs. DEVENDER KUMAR TALWAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant is one of the two sons of late Smt. Vidyawati Talwar and Shri Ganda Ram Talwar. He filed a petition under Sec. 278 of the Indian Successions Act in the court of the District Judge seeking Letters of Administration in respect of the estate of his late parents as detailed in Annexure-I to the petition. Prior to him, his brother Devender Kumar Talwar had filed a similar petition seeking Letters of Administration but it was in respect of part of the estate of his deceased parents. The petition filed by Devender Kumar Talwar was allowed and he was granted Letters of Administration as prayed by him. The appellant who was respondent in that petition preferred an appeal against that order which was dismissed upon which he filed a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court which is pending consideration.

(2.) Insofar as the petition of the present appellant before the District Judge praying for Letters of Administration in respect of the property mentioned in his petition was concerned, the same was dismissed on the ground that it was barred by time. The learned Additional District Judge who decided the petition relied upon a Single Judge Bench judgment of this Court reported in Pamela Manmohan Singh Vs. State and Ors. 2000 RLR 137 wherein it was held that the limitation for seeking Letters of Administration is governed by Art. 137 of the Limitation Act, 1963 which provides that any other application for which no period of limitation is provided elsewhere in this Division is three years when the right to apply accrues . It was thus held that since Smt. Vidyawati Talwar died on Dec. 29, 1998 and as the appellant had filed the petition seeking Letters of Administration on Nov. 27, 2002, the same was barred by time. The appellant came in appeal against the said order which also was dismissed. The appellant then preferred a special leave petition to the Supreme Court. The Apex Court on Feb. 13, 2006 disposed of the special leave petition stating therein that the judgment relied upon by the Additional District Judge and also by the Single Judge of the High Court stood over-ruled by a judgment of the Division Bench in the case of S.S.Lal Vs. Vishnu Mitter Govil 112(2004) Delhi Law Times 877 (DB) . While disposing of the special leave petition, the Apex Court remitted the case back to this Court for a fresh decision in accordance with law. This is how the present appeal has come up for fresh consideration by this Court.

(3.) I have perused the judgment of this Court passed in the case of S.S.Lal Vs. Vishnu Mitter Govil (supra) . It has been held in the said judgment that no limitation applies to an application for grant of Probate or Letters of Administration but it would apply in cases where revocation of Letters of Administration is sought and in that case Art. 137 of the Limitation Act shall come into play.