OUDH NARAIN LAL Vs. SUKH DULARI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The question which has been referred to this bench foe decision arises in the following circumstances.

(2.) The petitioners are the universal legatees under the alleged will of one Lala Bans Gopal who died at Lachhanpur in district Jaunpur on 9th October 1939 ; and they have applied in this Court for grant of letters of administration with a copy of the will annexed. The petition is opposed by the respondents who contend that the alleged will is a forgery.

(3.) In the year 1943 the present petitioners filed a suit in the Court of the Munsif of Jaunpur for a declaration that they were entitled to possession of certain property which they said had been bequeathed to them by the said Lala Bans Gopal under the will which is the subject of the present petition, and in that suit the present respondents were the defendants. The defence was that the will was a forgery, and the Munsif held it to be so and dismissed the suit. An appeal to the Civil Judge of Jaunpur and a second appeal to this Court were both dismissed. The question which arises on the present petition is whether the decision of the Munsif that the will is a forgery is conclusive in this Court as a Court of Probate.