PRITAM DASS Vs. NAND RAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE simple question for determination in this appeal is whether the letters of administration in respect of a will which was found to be fictitious in contested litigation between the concerned parties should be annulled, obtained, as they were, without notice to the other party?

(2.) THE origin of the protracted litigation of which the present appeal is an aspect is the death on 24th of February, 1935, of Mahant Jai Parkash of Udasi sect owning extensive properties of two Udasi Deras, one at village Manki in Samrala tehsil of ludhiana district and the other in village Hamirgarh in Tehsil Sunam of Sangrur district. There were two rival claimants to the gaddi of the Mahant and both of them are parties in this appeal. Pritam Dass appellant in this appeal (hereinafter called the appellant) set up his title by virtue of a will said to have been executed by the deceased Mahant 13 days before his death, that is to say on 11th of february, 1965. Anant Ram respondent (hereinafter called the respondent) on the other hand, claimed to have been appointed a successor to the gaddi by Mahant jai Parkash himself and asserted his title as a result of installation to this office by the beikh itself on the 17th day after the death of Mahant Jai Parkash. The first round of battle between the two claimants was fought before the revenue authorities and culminated in a mutation in favour of the appellant whose appeal was allowed on 15th of March, 1937. The respondent, though he allowed this position to remain for, many years, started the second phase of the contest by filing a suit on 19th of August, 1946, and asserted that he had been appointed a chela by Mahant Jai Parkash 25 years before and the beikh of the Udasis and also the village Panchayat of Manki had invested him with a turban of office on the 17th day ceremony of the deceased. On his behalf it was pleaded that the appellant was not even a chela of the deceased Mahant and the mutation in his favour had been sanctioned on the strength of a spurious will which was never executed by the deceased Mahant in a sound disposing mind and was a fabricated document. For two years the case was fought on the preliminary question of court-fee and issues on merits were framed on 13th of August, 1948. Before the first court, the appellant again won the case and the suit was dismissed, but it may be observed that the finding of the Court was, that the deceased Mahant did not make any valid will in his favour. The suit failed mainly on the ground that the respondent had failed, to make good his case of appointment as a Chela of Mahant Jai Parkash and also because the appointment as a Mahant by the Dera had not been established. The suit which was dismissed on 20th of July, 1949, was, however, decreed in appeal by a Division Bench of the High Court consisting of Chopra arid gosain JJ. in R. F. A. No. 197 of 1949 decided on 19th of September, 1957. According to the judgment, of the High Court, the respondent succeeded not only because he had been able to prove his appointment as a Chela of Mahant Jai parkash, as also his installation to the gaddi on the 17th day after the death by the beikh and the panchayat which had assembled for this purpose, but also because the will which was the basis of the appellant's claim was supported by documents of doubtful authenticity, and neither its: execution was proved nor was it made out that the testator had a disposing mind. The pith and substance of this finding is given in the penultimate paragraph of the judgment delivered by the bench thus:-

(3.) A second front was opened by the appellant who made an application for grant of letters of administration of the will executed by Mahant Jai Parkash on 11th of february, 1935. In the citations the respondent in this appeal was not made a party and it would be obvious that if any one was interested in contesting the genuineness of the will it was the respondent who had actually won his title and status to the property in litigation which had been bitterly contested. The letters of administration with a copy of the will attached were granted in favour of the appellant by the Court of the District Judge, Ludhiana on 4th of January, 1961, in respect of property situate in village Manki. For reasons best known to the appellant, the letters of administration had not been applied for in respect of the other properties in Sangrur district but it is stated at the bar that this has been now done and the appropriate Court in Sangrur has also been moved for grant of similar letters in respect of the Dera situate within the jurisdiction of that Court. The respondent having come to know of the grant of letters of administration then moved the Court of the District Judge, Ludhiana, by an application made on 16th of December, 1962, for their annulment and revocation, under Section 263 of the indian Succession Act which is to this effect:--