A certified copy of a will is admissible as secondary evidence if the original will is not produced and the party who has possession of the original will deliberately withholds it.

Judgement

SHELAT, J.:- This appeal by special leave is directed against the judgment and decree of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh confirming the dismissal by the trial Court of the suit filed by appellants 1 and 2.

2. The pedigree set out below clarifies the relationship between the parties -

3. Pullamraju died leaving him surviving his undivided son Somaraju, his widow Surayamma and three daughters. Somaraju died on March 29, 1921 whereupon the said Surayamma claimed that he had left a will dated March 26, 1921 whereunder all the properties had been bequeathed to her absolutely. Sitaramaraju the uncle of Pullamraju filed Suit No. 21 of 1923 for a declaration that Somaraju s will was not valid as he had executed, it when he was a minor and was not in a sound disposing state of mind. Surayamma in her written statement filed in that suit contended that Somaraju was a major having been born or January 7, 1903 and was in a sound disposing state of mind when he executed the said will. The suit ended in a compromise decree by which Sitaramaraju admitted that Somaraju was a major when he died, that he was in a sound disposing state of mind and that the will therefore was genuine and valid. Under the compromise decree ho received it out of about 57 acres of land and the rest of the property was retained by Suryamma. Thereafter, Surayamma conduced herself as the absolute owner of the properties which came to her under the said decree. By two deeds both dated March 30, 1925 she settled part of the land received by her under the said decree in favour of her two daughters the mothers of plaintiffs 1 and 2 and defendant 6 respectively. The said properties have since been possessed of and enjoyed first by the said two daughters and later by plaintiffs 1 and 2 and defendant 6. On November 3, 1947 Surayamma gifted another portion of the said property to defendant No. 6. Surayamma died on October 22, 1950. Plaintiffs 1 and 2 and defendant 6 (the present appellants) thereafter obtained a deed of surrender from their mothers and filed the suit out of which this appeal arises, contending that they were the nearest reversioners of Somaraju, being the sons of his sisters, that the said compromise decree was collusive, that the said Somaraju did not execute the said will, that even if he did he was not a major nor of sound disposing state of mind when he executed it and that therefore the said will was not valid. By a subsequent amendment of the plaint they also contended that some of the land left by Somaraju were not disposed of under the said will, that there was consequently intestacy in resect thereof which in any event they as reversioners were entitled to claim. The respondents resisted the suit contending that the said will was valid, that the said compromise decree was binding on the appellants and that they having accepted and enjoyed the said properties settled upon their mothers by Suryamma they were estopped from challenging the will or the said decree. They also denied that any of the properties left by Somaraju remained undisposed of by the said will or that there resulted any intestacy regarding them or that on such intestacy the appellants became entitled thereto. The trial Court held that Somaraju did execute the will, that the original will was with the appellants and was suppressed by them, that therefore its certified copy produced from the records of the court was admissible that the said will was valid as Somaraju was a major and in a sound disposing state of mind when he executed it, that the said decree was by way of a family arrangement in settlement of bona fide disputes, that it was binding upon the appellants and that the appellants were estopped from disputing the will or the said decree. The trial Court also repelled the contention that Somaraju left any property undisposed of under the said will or that the appellants became entitled thereto upon an intestacy. In appeal against the said judgment the High Court confirm