A person who has merely obtained an attachment before judgment in respect of the deceased's estate does not have a sufficient interest in the estate to maintain a caveat against the grant of probate.

Ajay Nath Ray, J. : This is an application for summary revocation of the caveat filed by Garodia in the matter of the last Will of Hari Prasad Lohia by which his brother's son Nikunj has been appointed both executor and residuary and principal legatee.

2. Hari Prasad Lohia had a brother and two sisters. One of the sisters Durga Devi lodged a caveat. Then she expressed her intention to withdraw the same and after a contested hearing I permitted such withdrawal. The other sister Pushpa Debi Modi who predeceased Hari Prasad never came into the picture through her heirs, if any.

3. Hari Prasad himself died without any children. He was a divorcee and he never married a second time.

4. It has been alleged, though not as the first point, that the caveat is maintained merely for this purpose that Nikunj does not get the 2,44,000 shares owned by the deceased in the East India Syntex Company. Both Garodia and Nikunj are directors of that company. It is alleged that Garodia's interest would be much served and his control over the company would be much strengthened if the 2,44,000 shares of Hari Prasad and the voting rights thereon remained always in suspense.

5. The Probate Court being a court of equity. I permitted these matters to be brought on record. Motive, though not always, might sometimes prove to be a relevant and tilting factor in an equity court.

6. On the same basis i.e. this Court is an equity Court, facts were brought to my notice from the side of Garodia, regarding the actions of Nikunj, which, according to Garodia, disentitle Nikunj from obtaining a discretionary relief from this Court.

7. It was said that Nikunj first tried to obtain a probate by suppressing citations and making a written erroneous statement upon oath that there are none others interested in the probate of the Will of the deceased than he and his sister. Only upon an order being passed by Hazari, J. did citation issue to the deceased's sister Durga Debi Goenka. At that stage Durga Debi's son Lokenath apparently used an affidavit denying the genuineness of Hari Prasad's Will. I have not seen the affidavit itself but a copy of it is annexed to the affidavit of Kejriwal who has affirmed an affidavit on behalf of Garodia in the next application of Nikunj, where he prays for limited rights of administration pendente lite relating to the voting powers of the said 2,44,000 shares.

8. It is also alleged by Garodia that two dividend warrants for two successive years after the death of Hari Prasad in October 1992, were encashed at the instance of Nikunj by making entries on the line "payee's signature". Once Nikunj signed as H.P. Lohia and in another instance he signed in some illegible manner seeking to make it appear as H. P. Lohia's signature. It is alleged that they were Nikunj's forgeries.

9. Nikunj has denied these allegations. He has said that only H.P. Lohia's name was written. He has said that the bank allowed the warrants to be encashed. It appears to me that in the second of the dividend warrants H. P. Lohia's name was not written but that a signature was attempted by somebody to be put in there. Why and how the bank encashed the warrants in the account of H. P. Lohia even after his death are things which I have not been able to understand.

10. The above matters might have been relevant ones since an equitable matter is in issue, but in my opinion, where summary revocation of probate is called for, the issue is one and one only. The issue is, has the person who has lodged the caveat a sufficient interest in the estate of the deceased so as to have the locus standi for such lodgement?

11. The motive for such lodgement is in my opinion irrelevant in a summary revocation application, although I have formed this opinion only after hearing all the facts in full, If Garodia has a sufficient interest in the estate of Hari Prasad Lohia, deceased, then it does not matter in the least whether he wishes to lodge and press his caveat for maintaining the control of t