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HIGH COURT OF DELHI
FAO No. 459/2011 4th February, 2014 MINATI BOSE ......Appellant
Through: Ms. Jasvinder Kaur, Advocate and Mr. Jogesh, Advocate.
Through:
To be referred to the Reporter or not? VALMIKI J. MEHTA, J (ORAL)
JUDGMENT
1. This appeal has been filed against the impugned judgment of the court below dated 4.8.2011 by which the petition for letters of administration filed by the appellant has been dismissed. Petition for letters of administration was dismissed basically because according to the court below appellant had not proved the original Will dated 15.11.1981 by which the property was bequeathed in favour of the husband of the appellant, of which letters of administration was sought and there was lack of proper evidence in proof of the copy of the Will. 2014:DHC:683
2. I may note that in the petition for letters of administration, in spite of service of notices, no one appeared for the respondents, and no objections were filed.
3. The case of the petitioner, appellant herein was proved by proving on record the death certificate of Sh. S.K.Bose, which is exhibited as Ex.PW1/E, and also the FIR by which the original Will was shown to have been lost.
4. In my opinion, in a case such as the present, when there is no objection from any quarter, mere fact that original Will is not available, is not a good ground for dismissing the petition for letters of administration, inasmuch as Sections 237 to 240 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 deal with grant of letters of administration/probate even where the original Will is not available. In such a case it is only that the Court has to be convinced that the original Will has not been revoked. In the present case, I have already noted that no objections have been filed from any quarter. Also, the Will in question was proved through the attesting witness Sh. Jatindranath Mohanty who deposed as PW-2.
5. In view of the above, probate petition for grant of letters of administration to the appellant is allowed with respect to the Will dated 15.11.1981 executed in favour of Sh. S.K.Bose, husband of the appellant, by Sh. A.P.Bose, father-in-law of the appellant and the father of Sh. S.K.Bose. Letters of administration be granted subject to filing of the necessary administration and security bond before the concerned court below.
6. Appeal is accordingly allowed and disposed of, leaving the parties to bear their own costs. All pending applications stand disposed of.
FEBRUARY 04, 2014 VALMIKI J. MEHTA, J. ib