KURIAN @ JACOB Vs. CHELLAMMA JOHN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The controversy concerns a Will - testament - and the parties are Christians. One of the legal heirs to the testator wanted letters of administration. It was opposed. In this first appeal, only two issues arise: Do the Statutes of limitation apply to the proceedings under S.213 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925, ("the Act")? Is the amendment to S.213 of the Act prospective or retrospective? Granted that both are pure questions of law, we propose to refer to the facts only for contextualising the controversy.

(2.) One Yohannan, the common ancestor, died testate on 24 Oct., 1978. He executed his last Will on 24 June, 1974, after executing and cancelling a series of Wills - at least four times. Yohannan was survived by two daughters, whose children now fight for his estate. That is, the succession dispute involves his grandchildren and their children.

(3.) Chellamma John, the wife of Yohannan's one of the grandsons, and her children filed OP (LA) No. 290 of 1996 claiming the letters of administration; they base their claim on Yohannan's registered Will No. 34 of 1974. Later, the original petition was renumbered as OS No. 3 of 99 on the file of the Additional District Judge, Kottayam. The 14 defendants included Jacob @ Kurian [In another appeal - RSA No. 94 of 2004 - between the same parties the ninth respondent described himself Jacob; in this appeal, he was described as Kurian@Jacob. For uniformity's sake, we refer to him as Jacob] as the ninth respondent; he alone contested the case.