JUDGMENT

SHARMA, J.— The question for decision in this appeal by special leave is whether a petition under Section 11 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, for declaring the marriage of the petitioner as nullity is maintainable after the death of the petitioners spouse.

2. Appellant 1, hereinafter referred to as the Maharani, was married to Maharaja Rameshwarsinghji in 1960 and a daughter, appellant 2, was born of the wedlock in 1964. The relationship between the husband and the wife thereafter ceases to be cordial and the appellants started living in Bombay and the Maharaja within his estate in Madhya Pradesh. According to the case of respondent 1, the Maharaja decided to remarry without legally separating from the appellant Maharani. The respondent who is a relation of the Maharajas mother, respondent 2, was misled both by the Maharaja and his mother in believing that the first marriage of the Maharaja had been dissolved and under that belief she married the Maharaja and the couple got several issues. In 1974 when the Maharaja died, an application for grant of Letters of Administration was filed by the appellant Maharani; and the respondent applied for probate on the basis of an allege