Legal heirs of a deceased legatee/beneficiary under a Will are entitled to pursue proceedings to claim properties allegedly bequeathed to the deceased, and proceedings for grant of probate can be converted into proceedings for issuance of Letters of Administration with will annexed.

ORDER :

(Sandeep V. Marne, J.):

By these applications, applicants seek their impleadment as legal representatives of deceased appellant, not only in the First Appeal but also in the plaint filed in the Suit, which has already been disposed of. Applicants further seek leave to conversion of Suit filed for grant of probate to the one for issuance of letters of administration with will annexed.

2. Three fundamental issues that arise for our consideration in the present applications are (i) whether applicants claiming to be legal heirs of late Kunjumon Shivrajan Panicker can be brought on record in proceedings filed by him for grant of probate in his capacity as executor thereof; (ii) whether applicants can be permitted to convert the proceedings filed for grant of probate in respect of Will executed by Ranjana Pranlal Doshi into proceedings for issuance of letters of administration with will annexed and (iii) Whether after disposal of the suit, applicants can be permitted to amend the plaint in pending First Appeal.

3. The brief factual background, shorn of unnecessary details, in which the aforesaid three issues arise for our consideration are as follows. Ms. Ranjana Pranlal Doshi died at Pune on 4 May 2014. Chandravadan Pranlal Doshi, Bharati Rajinikant Darak and Shobha Pratibha Doshi are brother and sisters of Ranjana. They claimed that Ranjana died intestate and therefore filed Civil Miscellaneous Application No.715 of 2014 for grant of Letters of Administration in respect of estate of Ranjana.

4. On the other hand, Kunjumon Shivrajan Panicker claimed that Ranjana had executed a Will on 4 January 2013, under which Kunjumon was appointed as executor of the will. In addition to executor, Kunjumon is also shown to be a legatee, to whom the testatrix had allegedly bequeathed properties mentioned in the Will. Kunjumon therefore filed Civil Miscellaneous Application No.26 of 2015 for grant of probate in respect of will of the testatrix.

5. Both proceedings were opposed by the rival parties. Therefore Civil Miscellaneous Application No.26 of 2016 filed by Kunjumon was registered as Special Civil Suit No.208 of 2019 whereas Civil Miscellaneous Application No.715 of 2014 filed by Chandravadan, Bharati and Shobha was registered as Special Civil Suit No.209 of 2019. For the sake of convenience, Kunjumon is referred, in the present order as the Plaintiff and Chandravadan, Bharati and Shobha are referred to as the Defendants.

6. The Civil Judge Senior Division, Pune passed common judgment and order dated 20 September 2021dismissing Special Civil Suit No.208 of 2019 filed by Plaintiff for grant of probate. Special Civil Suit No.209 of 2019 filed by Defendants was allowed directing issuance of Letters of Administration in favour of Chandravadan, Bharati and Shobha with respect to movable and immovable properties mentioned in the plaint which were left behind by late Ranjana Doshi.

7. Plaintiff-Kunjumon has filed present appeal challenging the common judgment and order dated 20 September 2021 passed in both Special Civil Suit Nos. 208 of 2019 and 209 of 2019.

8. During pendency of the present appeal, Plaintiff- Kunjumon died on 13 February 2023. On account of death of Plaintiff-Kunjumon, his legal heirs desire to set themselves impleaded in the present appeal. However Civil Miscellaneous Application No.26 of 2015, which was later converted into Special Civil Suit No.208 of 2019, was filed by Plaintiff-Kunjumon for grant of probate in his capacity of executor of the Will. In view of well settled law that where an executor dies, his legal heirs cannot be substituted as executors possesses merely personal rights. However Plaintiff- Kunjumon was also a beneficiary in the Will. His legal heirs, who are applicants in the present application, wish to stake their claim to the estate of the testatrix allegedly bequeathed to Plaintiff-Kunjumon. However on account of nature of proceeding initiated by Plaintiff- Kunjumon (issuance of probate in his capaci