MAUJI RAM Vs. MADAN SINGH ETC.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This first appeal arises out of an application under Sec. 276 of the Indian Succession Act for the grant of a probate of a will executed by Smt. Sundru widow of Lachhi Ram of village Ajehr, Pargana Shohawali previously in Tehsil Kasumpti of District Mahasu and now in Tehsil and District Simla.

(2.) Smt. Sundru had executed the will (Ex. P.A.) on 29th July, 1968 bequeathing her entire property in favour of Mouji Ram, the son -in -law of her brother Shri Balak Ram. She died on 3rd August, 1968. Thereafter Mouji Ram applied for the grant of probate of the will but the same was opposed by Madan Singh, Respondent No. 1. He is the son of the brother of Sundru's late husband. He contended that Smt. Sundru was not in a sound disposing mind and she was seriously ill for a long time before her death. That the will was unnatural inasmuch as the natural heirs had been deprived of their right to the property.

(3.) The learned District Judge found that, no doubt, the execution of the will stood proved, but Smt. Sundru at the time of the execution of the will was ailing. Further she was admittedly living all alone and was dependent on others for even cultivation of her own land and in the past she had adopted one Jamuna Dass and further that one Shibu had been assisting her in cultivation. Madan Singh was the nearest heir. The Petitioner was neither living with the testator nor did Le at any time assist her. Propounding the will by Smt. Sundru in the face of such circumstances in favour of the Petitioner was a suspicious circumstance. Further that, in case, Smt. Sundru had adopted Jamuaa Dass and had also her husband's brother's son alive it was normally required that she should have expressed her mind in the w 11 itself as to why she thought it fit to ignore their normal claim to succeed her after her death and also to express why she preferred to make a will in favour of the Petitioner who till then was of no help to her in any manner whatsoever. Further Mouji Ram Petitioner took a leading part in the collection of the various persons to attest the will, speaks its own tale. Smt. Sundru did not know Hindi or Urdu and she knew only her own dialect and that the will though scribed in Hindi script but it contained Urdu words and, therefore, the same was hardly intelligible to the executant even if it was read out to her and these were, therefore, the suspicious circumstances according to the learned District Judge which the Petitioner failed to dispel and he, therefore, dismissed the petition.