Judgement

Appeal from a decree of the High Court (August 26, 1903), reversing a decree of the District Court of Dacca (February 13, 1900).

The question in the appeal is whether the appellants Shahzadi Begam and Puti Begam were entitled to letters of administration to the estate of one Mir Amir Ali Khan, who died at Dacca on October 30, 1897. The two appellants on November 30, 1897, applied in that behalf to the District Court of Dacca, claiming the letters on the ground that they were the next heirs of the deceased. This application was opposed by the Secretary of State for India in Council, who alleged that the deceased had died without leaving any heir, in consequence of which his estate had escheated to Government. The dispute resolved itself into the proof of a pedigree which shewed that the deceased Amir Ali Khan was great-grandson or third in descent from Haidari Begam, and that Shahzadi Begam and Puti Begam were third in descent from Mirza Mahsum, who on the lace of the pedigree

Law Rep. 34 Ind. App. 194 ( 1906- 1907) Shahzadi Begam V. Secretary of State for India in Council 85

was uterine brother to Haidari Begam. The pedigree also shewed that Haidari Begam was one of six c