SHASHI BHUSHAN LAHIRI Vs. RAJENDRA NATH JOARDAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal arises out of an application for probate of the will of one Adya Sundari Debi who bequeathed her properties to the three respondents who were her paternal relations and appointed them executors, one of them, Charu Chunder, being related to her as her half-sister s son. The appellant, Shashi Bhushan Lahiri, was the daughter s son of the great-grandson of the great-great-grandfather of Adya Sundari s husband, Ram Kanai Moitra. The appellant had applied for letters of administration "to the estate left by Adya Sundari before the application for probate of her will was made by the respondents.

(2.) Therefore, in the proceedings on the application for probate citation was issued upon the appellant, and he put in a petition of objections contesting the genuineness and validity of the will, and also alleging that the estate belonged to Adya Sundari s husband which she had no power to dispose of by will. The learned District Judge held that he was not entitled to oppose the grant of probate, and, after taking formal evidence of the execution of the will, g) anted probate to the respondents. Shashi Bhushan has appealed to this Court.

(3.) Before Shashi Bhushan can contest the will, he must show that he has an interest in the estate of Adya Sundari. If the estate dealt with by the will belonged to her husband, the grant of probate of the will executed by her cannot affect the rights of the heir of her husband, and the Court of Probate of course has no power to go into the question whether the estate belonged to Adya Sundari or her husband.