The duty of parties to come forward with a true case and true evidence, and the significance of prompt action in seeking probate of a Will.

ORDER :

1. By this petition, the petitioners are seeking revocation of letters of administration issued on 19.07.2019 in favour of the respondent (original petitioner in Testamentary Petition No. 490 of 2019).

2. The petitioners herein alleged that the respondent fraudulently obtained the letters of administration pertaining to the estate of the deceased. By an interim application filed in the present petition, the petitioners have also sought interim reliefs.

3. Petitioner No. 1 is the brother of the deceased Archana Chandresh Thakkar, petitioner No. 2 is the wife of petitioner No. 1 and petitioner No. 3 is the son of petitioner Nos. 1 and 2.

4. The respondent is the married daughter of the deceased. It is stated that the respondent applied for grant of letters of administration, suppressing Will dated 17.10.2020 executed by the deceased. According to the petitioners, in terms of the said Will, they are entitled to part of the estate of the deceased, of which they stand deprived due to the fraudulent act of the respondent in obtaining the letters of administration from this Court without divulging all relevant information, including existence of the aforesaid Will dated 17.10.2020. The said allegations are denied by the respondent. Reply affidavit and rejoinder affidavit are filed in the interim application seeking interim reliefs and the learned counsel for the parties rely upon the statements made in such affidavits to support their respective contentions.

5. The chronology of events leading to filing of the present petition is that, on 24.01.2019, the deceased Archana Chandresh Thakkar passed away. It is the case of the petitioners, as stated in the interim application, that after the death of the deceased on 24.01.2019, when the respondent and her husband visited the residence of the petitioners on 31.01.2019, they were informed by the petitioners about the aforesaid Will dated 17.10.2020 executed by the deceased. It is also claimed in the interim application that during the said visit, photocopy of the said Will was handed over to the respondent and her husband. This assertion is specifically denied in the reply affidavit filed on behalf of the respondent.

6. On 06.02.2019, the respondent filed Testamentary Petition No. 490 of 2019 for grant of letters of administration pertaining to the estate of the deceased. In the said petition, the respondent asserted that the deceased died intestate and that despite diligent search, no Will could be found. It was also asserted that no application for grant of probate of the Will or for the grant of letters of administration with or without Will was filed in any Court. The details of the surviving legal heirs of the deceased i.e. the respondent being the daughter and the husband of the deceased were stated in the said petition.

7. On 28.05.2019, final order for issuance of letters of administration was passed in the said testamentary petition. On 09.07.2019, the grant was issued.

8. On 20.01.2020, petitioner No. 1 sent an e-mail to the respondent stating that a year had passed since the death of the deceased and that the proposed visit of the respondent was awaited. It was asserted that during the last visit of the said respondent in January, 2019, matters were not expedited and that being the executors, the petitioners were in discussion with their advocates. It was further stated that the petitioners would be assigning the matter for necessary legal process unless the respondent visited India and expedited the same at the earliest. On 26.01.2020, the respondent sent an e-mail to petitioner No. 1 (her maternal uncle), stating that as she had mentioned about a year ago, she was disputing the Will propounded by petitioner No. 1. It was claimed that the deceased had confirmed multiple times that she had never executed any Will. It was specifically stated thereafter that the respondent had already taken appropriate legal remedies in respect of the estate of the deceased and a request was made