MEENAKSHI Vs. K THIRUNAVUKKARASU ACHARI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE above Civil Revision Petition is filed by the 2nd and 3rd defendants in the suit against the fair and decretal order dated 10.3.2005 made in I.A.No. 659 of 2000 in O.S.No. 9049 of 1996 on the file of the learned III Additional Judge, City Civil Court, Chennai allowing the I.A., filed by the plaintiffs to implead themselves as well as defendants 2 and 3 in the suit as legal heirs and representatives of the deceased first defendant.

(2.) THE revision petitioners are the defendants 2 and 3 in the suit filed by the respondent Meenakshi herein as the first plaintiff and defendants 4 to 6 as plaintiffs 2 to 4 respectively who are transposed as defendants 4 to after they agreed to withdraw the suit. THE suit was filed by the daughters of the deceased first defendant against him and the revision petitioners seeking for partition and separate possession of their alleged 1/6th share in the suit property. Pending the suit, the first defendant died. THE case of the plaintiffs is that the first defendant, their father has no absolute title to the suit property. THE first defendant resisted the suit contending that he is the absolute owner and executed a registered Will bequeathing the suit property in favour of his two sons, namely the petitioners herein.

(3.) LEARNED senior counsel appearing for the revision petitioners who are second and third defendants in the suit contended that as per Order XXII Rule 4 of the code of Civil Procedure, while considering whether a person can claim legal heirship, the question that can be considered is whether the deceased has left behind a Will or not and if there s a Will left behind by the deceased, only the beneficiaries under the Will can be recorded as the legal heir of the deceased under Section 216 of the Indian Succession Act. Therefore according to the learned senior counsel the beneficiaries under the Will can only be brought as the legal representatives of the first defendant. In this case the sisters of the revision petitioners cannot claim any right to represent the estate of the deceased first defendant since the revision petitioners alone are the beneficiaries under the Will and they also probated the Will and obtained Letters of Administration in respect of the estate of the deceased first defendant.