KALLYANIKUTTY AMMA Vs. ANANDAVALLI AMMA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal from an order of the learned District Judge of Trichur refusing letters of administration to the appellant in respect of the estate of her deceased husband, R. P. Nathan, on the sole ground that he had no jurisdiction to make a grant. The respondent is the mother of the deceased and she supports the appellant in her contention that the refusal was wrong.

(2.) R. P. Nathan died intestate in Malaya early in March 1949 and at the time of his death had "a fixed place of abode" in the Chittur Village within the jurisdiction of the District Judge of Trichur. He however left behind him no assets in this country, movable or immovable, and the short question that arises for consideration is whether in the absence of Indian assets it is possible to make a grant under the Indian Succession Act, 1925.

(3.) The parties base their contention in favour of jurisdiction essentially on the wording of S.270 of that enactment. The foundation of the jurisdiction of a court to grant probate or letters of administration is that there is property of the deceased to Be administered within the country and S.270 does not in any way provide an alternative basis for a grant.