DIL KUER Vs. HARI CHANDAR PRASAD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This miscellaneous appeal under Section 299 of the Indian Succession Act arises out of a proceeding at the instance of the appellants for revocation of a will. The relevant facts are these :

(2.) One Sukhdeo Mahto executed a will on 15-9-1964 (Exhibit D) in favour of respondents 1 and 2, his agnates he himself having no issue. On the death of the said testator on 15-1-1965, an application for grant of letters of administration was filed in the Court of the District Judge of Patna on 2-2-1965 by the aforesaid beneficiaries. Appellant No. 1, who happens to be a sister of the testator, was one of the persons mentioned in the application for grant of the letters of administration, and according to her case, on the death of Sukhdeo Mahto, she being his only heir, inherited the property and came in possession of the same. The other two appellants are the vendees of appellant No. 1, to whom she transferred the entire property by a registered deed of sale dated 9-6-1968. The application for grant of letters of administration was allowed ex parte on 6-11-1965. The appellants thereupon filed an application for revocation of the grant of the letters of administration under Section 263 of the Indian Succession Act, inter alia, on the grounds that the srant was obtained fraudulently without serving a valid notice on appellant No. 1 and the same could not be made in law as the will in question being unregistered, was inoperative and hit by the provisions of Section 16 (2) (iii) of the Bihar Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling Area and Acquisition of Surplus Land) Act, 1961 (Bihar Act 12 of 1962) (hereinafter referred to as the "Ceiling Act").

(3.) The learned Additional District Judge dismissed the application on recording a finding on both the questions against the appellants. He held that the notice of the probate proceeding was duly served upon the opposite parties and the provisions of the Ceiling Act were no bar to the grant of the letters of administration in view of the provisions of the Indian Registration Act which made the registration of a will optional.