A. M. BHATTACHARJEE, J.

( 1 ) THE petitioner is the duly constituted nominee in respect of a Safety Locker in the Durgapur Branch of the Punjab National Bank, which was hired by her deceased husband, but the Bank has decided to deny to the petitioner any access to that Locker unless she produces a succession certificate in support of her right. I have no doubt that the Bank has gone entirely wrong in doing so.

( 2 ) IT is true that the law in India is, by and large, against any interference with the ordinary course of intestate succession, save and except by a valid testamentary disposition strictly in accordance with the law governing testamentary disposition. We have got to, as pointed by the Supreme Court in Sarbati Devi vs. Usha Devi (AIR 1984 SC 346 at 349), bear in mind the anxious care that our law takes in the matter of execution and proof of testamentary instruments which have the effect of diverting the estate of the deceased or any part thereof from the ordinary course of intestate succession. If any post-mortem course of disposition of property does not satisfy the strict and rigorous requirements of the rules governing testamentary succession, it would stand out-weig

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