Full Text
HIGH COURT OF DELHI
Date of Decision: 16th December, 2019
RAHUL PURI ..... Petitioner
Through: Mr. Bhuvan Gugnani, Advocate with Mr. Samrath Rekhi, Advocate
Through: None.
PRATEEK JALAN, J. (ORAL)
JUDGMENT
1. This petition under Section 276 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 has been filed by the petitioner for probate of a will dated 20.11.2013 of Late Wing Commander (Retd.) Satendra Nath Rampal (hereinafter referred to as “the testator”).
2. The deceased died on 20.03.2018. His death certificate has been exhibited as Ex.PW1/1. His wife had predeceased him, and he had no children. The petition discloses that the testator had one brother and three sisters. The petitioner is the son of Smt. Santosh Puri, who is one of the sisters of the testator. The other siblings, viz. Sh. N. N. Rampal, Smt. Savitri Bhushan, and Smt. Leela Kaul, all predeceased the testator. Their legal representatives have been impleaded as respondents in this petition. The petitioner is the named executor of 2019:DHC:6750 the will, which is a registered document. The will has been exhibited as Ex.PW1/2.
3. Notice was issued on this petition on 22.01.2019, and citations were also published in two newspapers, viz. Jansatta and The Statesman (Delhi Edition), exhibited as Ex.PW1/7 and Ex.PW1/8, respectively. The only respondents who entered appearance are Dr.Sanjiv Kaul [Respondent No. 4(A)] and Mr.Gautam Kaul [Respondent No. 4(B)] – who are the legal representatives of Smt. Leela Kaul, one of the sisters of the testator – who have filed affidavits signifying that they do not have any objection to the grant of probate, exhibited as Ex.PW1/4 and Ex.PW1/5, respectively. The relevant extracts of their affidavits read as follows:- Affidavit of Dr. Sanjiv Kaul, Respondent No. 4(A) “I, Dr. Sanjiv Kaul, s/o Late Smt. Leela Kaul, aged about 67 years, r/o 2010 SW Carter Lane, Portland, Oregon 97210, USA do hereby solemnly affirm and declare as under:
1. I say that I am Respondent No. 4A in the present case, well conversant with the facts & circumstances and hence competent to depose the present affidavit. xxxx xxxx xxxx
6. I say that Late Sh. Satendra Nath Rampal, my paternal uncle (mama) had left behind his duly registered last will & testament dated 20/11/2013 whereby he bequeathed his immovable properties in favor of my aunt (masi) Smt. Santosh Puri - Respondent No. 2 herein & the movables to my cousin, Mr. Rahul Puri - the petitioner herein.
7. I say that I have seen the will dated 20/11/2013 of Late Sh. Satendra Nath Rampal which bears his signatures and is duly witnessed. I have seen him write & sign and can therefore, identify his signatures. The said will dated 20/11/2013 is correct & genuine.
8. I say that I have no objection if the said will dated 20/11/2013 is probated in favor of Sh. Rahul Puri - the petitioner, as an Executor of the said will. Sd/- DEPONENT” Affidavit of Mr. Gautam Kaul, Respondent No. 4(B) “I, Gautam Kaul, s/o Late Smt. Leela Kaul, aged about 65 years, r/o 1725 Charlton Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48103, USA do hereby solemnly affirm and declare as under:
1. I say that i am Respondent No. 4B in the present case, well conversant with the facts & circumstances and hence competent to depose the present affidavit.
6. I say that Late Sh. Satendra Nath Rampal, my paternal uncle (mama) had left behind his duly registered last will & testament dated 20/11/2013 whereby he bequeathed his immovable properties in favor of my aunt (masi) Smt. Santosh Puri - Respondent No. 2 herein & the movables to my cousin, Mr. Rahul Puri - the petitioner herein.
7. I say that I have seen the will dated 20/11/2013 of Late Sh. Satendra Nath Rampal which bears his signatures and is duly witnessed. I have seen him write & sign and can therefore, identify his signatures. The said will dated 20/11/2013 is correct & genuine.
8. I say that I have no objection if the said will dated 20/11/2013 is probated in favor of Sh. Rahul Puri - the petitioner, as an Executor of the said will. Sd/- DEPONENT”
4. None of the other respondents entered appearance, and no objections were received from any other party, pursuant to publication. The remaining respondents were thus set ex parte by an order dated 17.09.2019.
5. The original registered will has been filed, which is witnessed by one Mr. Nitin Kapoor and Mr. Yogeshwar Chandola. In addition to the petitioner, Mr. Nitin Kapoor has verified the petition. He has also filed an affidavit in support thereof. It is stated therein that the testator had signed the will in his presence and in the presence of the other attesting witness. The signatures of the testator and the other attesting witness have been duly identified.
6. The petitioner and the attesting witness have also filed affidavits by way of evidence, which were tendered in evidence and exhibited as Ex. PW1/A and Ex.PW2/A, respectively. The evidence affidavits read as follows: - Evidence of PW[1] (Mr. Rahul Puri, the Petitioner) “I, Rahul Puri, s/o Shri B. S. Puri, aged 50 Years, r/o A1/28, Safdarjang Enclave, New Delhi 110029, do hereby solemnly affirm and declare as under:
1) I say that I am the Petitioner in the present Petition, well conversant with the facts and circumstances of the case and hence competent to depose the present Affidavit.
2) I say that Late Wing Commander (Retd.) Shri Satendra Nath Rampal (hereinafter referred as the "Testator") s/o Late Sh. Pandit Udho Ram Rampal, r/o A1/74, Safdarjang Enclave. New Delhi left for his humble abode on 20th March 2018. The original Death Certificate is marked as Exhibit PW/1.
3) I say that besides Smt. Santosh Puri, (Respondent No. 2). w/o Shri B.S. Puri, r/o A1/28, Safdarjung Enclave, New Delhi - 110029 sister of the Testator, all siblings of the testator viz. Late Sh. N.N. Rampal, Late Smt. Savitri Bhushan, Late Smt. Leela Kaul predeceased him.
4) I say that the Testator during his lifetime executed his last registered Will and Testament dated 20/11/2013 whereby he bequeathed all assets movable & immovable in the manner as stated in the will. The original registered will dated 20/11/2013 is marked as Exhibit PW1/2.
5) I say that the deceased testator left behind immovable & movable assets in the form of balances in savings bank accounts, details of which are stated in schedule 'A' forming part of the petition. The said schedule 'A' is marked as Exhibit PW1/3.
6) I say that the Will dated 20/11/2013 of the Testator, names the deponent as the Sole Executor of the will. The same was found from amongst his documents lying in the cupboard at his residence at Safdarjang Enclave.
7) I say that the deponent & Respondent No. 2 are the only beneficiaries in terms of the registered will dated 20/11/2013.
8) I say that Respondent Nos. 4(A) & (B) and 5(A) have already given their no objection to the registered will dated 20/11/2013 by executing affidavit affirming the same. The original affidavits of Respondent Nos. 4(A) & (B) and 5(A) are marked as Exhibits PW1/4; PW1/5 & PW1/6 respectively.
9) I say that besides the above affidavits of Respondent Nos 4(A) & (B), the said Respondents have filed fresh affidavits affirming the same consequent, to issuance of notice before this Hon'ble Court.
10) I say that notice was issued by this Hon'ble Court in the present petition on 22/01/2019 and the deponent was directed to take steps for issuance of notice in the newspapers 'Statesman' {English) & 'Jan Satta' {Hindi).
11) I say that the deponent took steps for publication of the said notice and the same were published on 11/02/2019 & 10/02/2019 in Jan Satta and the Statesman respectively. The original newspapers carrying the said notices are marked as Exhibit PW1/7 & Exhibit PW1/8.
12) I say that the present petition may kindly be allowed.” Evidence of PW[2] (Mr.Nitin Kapoor, the Attesting Witness) “I, Nitin Kapoor, s/o Late Sh. B. R. Kapoor, r/o A1/46, Safdarjang Enclave, New Delhi 110 029 do hereby soiemnly affirm and declare as under
1. That the deponent is one of the attesting witness of the registered Will dated 20/11/2013 executed by Wg. Commander (Retd) Satendra Nath Rampal.
2. I say that Wg. Commander (Retd) Satendra Nath Rampal was my friends uncle and my neighbor.
3. I say that I used to visit him often to find out about his health generally being a neighbor.
4. I say that on or around 19/11/2013 Wg. Commander (Retd) Satendra Nath Rampal called me to visit him the next day at his residence.
5. I say that I visited him the next day i.e. 20/11/2013 and he requested me to witness his will dated 20/11/2013 which was lying prepared. The said will was a five page document.
6. I say that the Will dated 20/11/2013 was executed by Late Wg. Commander (Retd) Satendra Nath Rampal.
7. I say that Will was signed by the testator Wg. Commander (Retd) Satendra Nath Rampal in my presence on all the pages and in the presence of the other attesting witness Sh. Yogeshwar Chandola, who was already present there when I reached.
8. I say that myself, Sh. Yogeshwar Chandola, witness and Wg. Commander (Retd) Satendra Nath Rampal signed in presence of each other. I can identify the signature of Sh. Yogeshwar Chandola in the Will dated 20/11/2013 (Point A) and the signatures of late Wg. Commander (Retd) Satendra Nath Rampal (Points B, C, D, E, F & G) as they have signed in my presence I have also signed the said will in the presence of them at the same time.
9. I say that we then accompanied Wg. Commander (Retd) Satendra Nath Rampal to the office of the sub-registrar for the registration of the will.
10. I say that Wg. Commander (Retd) Satendra Nath Rampal died on 20/03/2018 at his residence A1/74, Safdarjang Enclave, New Delhi 110 029.
11. I say that Wg. Commander (Retd) Satendra Nath Rampal was in sound disposing mind at the time of execution of the will dated 20/11/2013. Sd/- DEPONENT”
7. Mrs. Poonam Bhushan, arrayed as respondent No. 5(A), daughter of Smt. Savitri Bhushan, filed a no objection certificate by way of an affidavit dated 30.04.2018, which has been exhibited as Ex.PW1/6. The relevant portion of the affidavit reads as follows:- “I Poonam Bhushan, d/o Late Mrs Savitri Bhushan, resident of E-2 Kaveri Block Residential Complex, Indira Gandhi National Open University Campus, Maidan Garhi, New Delhi 110068, do hereby solemnly declare as under: Mrs Savitri Bhushan died in the year 1997 leaving behind her husband Professor Satya Bhushan, the deponent and her son Himanshu Bhushan. Professor Satya Bhushan died in 2005. Late Mr Satendra Nath Rampal, my maternal uncle/Mama, left behind his duly registered last will and testament dated 20th November 2013 whereby he has bequeathed his immovable property situated in Sainik Farms, bearing Plot No 1 Sainik Farms, Khanpur, New Delhi 110062, having an area of approximately 6200 square yards, and his half share in immovable property bearing No A-1/74 Safdarjung Enclave, Ground Floor, New Delhi 110029 to my Maasi Shrimati Santosh Puri w/o Shri Bhim Sen Puri, and his movable properties to my cousin Mr Rahul Puri, s/o Shri Bhim Sen Puri to the exclusion of all others. I have seen the original Will dated 20th November 2013 of Late Shri Satendra Nath Rampal which bears his signature as Testator and is duly witnessed. 1 have seen him write and sign, and therefore can identify his signatures. The said Will is correct and genuine will. I have attested a copy of the said will in token of my acknowledgment of the same. I have no objection if the same is executed / implemented and/ or a probate certificate is applied for and obtained by the executor or beneficiary of the said will from the competent court. I say that I have no objection if the immovable properties are mutated in the record of SDMC and the Revenue Authorities or such other concerned government authority and the movables are duly received by the beneficiary of the said same under the said will.”
8. In view of the evidence mentioned above, which remains uncontroverted, the petitioner is entitled to probate of the will. The petition is allowed, and the probate of the will dated 20.11.2013 is granted. The petitioner will give two sureties to the satisfaction of the (Original Side) on 09.01.2020 for this purpose.
9. The petition and all pending applications stand disposed of.
PRATEEK JALAN, J. DECEMBER 16, 2019