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1979 Supreme(Guj) 77

Gujarat High Court
Judgename :D.A.DESAI, D.P.MADON
RUKMANI DEVI - Appellant
Versus
NARENDRA LAL GUPTA - Respondent
Civil Revision 325 of 1979
Decided On : 06/25/1979

Advocates Appeared: R.K.GARG, R.P.Gupta, S.S.KHANDUJA, T.S.KRISHNAMURTHY IYER

Headnote:

Civil law - Indian Succession Act 1925 - Section 213 (2) and 214 - Civil Procedure Code - Order 21 Rule 29 - Consent decree - Recovering any debt - Share in property - Suit for partition and separate possession - Where she was staying with respondent Narendra Lal for over 20 years - Before her death Ram Dulari made last will and testament of her properties on February bequeathing same to her son -Respondent on strength of will proceeded to execute consent decree - Under decree amongst other things was entitled to recover from present appellants as well as partition and possession of land at - Appellants challenged validity of will of late and further contended that unless will is probated respondent was not entitled to execute decree - Held, Jurisdiction would depend upon value of property in a State other than State in which deceased died - If jurisdiction depends upon a disputed question of fact as value of property it was necessary for appellants to enter caveat and contest jurisdiction of court urging that Court had no jurisdiction because grant would affect a property in another State exceeding in value - That having not been done it is not open to appellants to raise that controversy in present proceedings - Once grant is made provides that grant shall have effect over all property and estate moveable or immoveable of deceased throughout State and unless otherwise directed grant has like effect throughout other States provided two contingencies set out in proviso are satisfied - In this case court granting probate was satisfied in absence of contest that value of property effected by grant and situated beyond limits of State does not exceed in value - Point is therefore concluded against appellants and they cannot be permitted to re-agitate same - Appeal dismissed

D. A. DESAI, J.

( 1 ) ONE Chaudhary Prasad Gupta died leaving behind him his wife Ram Dulari two sons Kaloo Lal and Narendra Lal and one daughter Smt. Kamla Devi. Kaloo Lal died in 1957 leaving behind him appellant No. 1 Rukmani Devi and his sons and daughters who are the co-appellants. Ram Dulari had filed a suit for partition and separate possession of her share in the property against Kaloo Lal in his lifetime which ended in a consent decree. Ram Dulari died on March 6 1970 at Mesra where she was staying with the respondent Narendra Lal for over 20 years. Before her death Ram Dulari made the last will and testament of her properties on February 7 11970 bequeathing the same to her son respondent Narendra Lal. The respondent on the strength of the will proceeded to execute the consent decree. Under the decree amongst other things he was entitled to recover Rs. 40 0 from the present appellants as well as partition and possession of land at Katni. The appellants challenged she validity of the will of late Smt. Ram Dulari and further contended that unless the will is probated the respondent was not entitled to execute the decree. The executing court upheld the contetion and stayed the proceedings till such time as the will was admitted to probate. The respondent preferred Civil Revision Petition No. 222 of 1971 in the High Court of Madhya Pradesh. The High Court by its judgment and order dated August 2 1971 held that in view of the provision contained in Section 213 (2) of the Indian Succession Act 1925 a will made by a Hindu in the State of Madhya Pradesh need not be probated and that Section 214 of the Indian Succession Act is not attracted because the consent decree did not provide for recovering any debt. The High Court accordingly set aside the order of the executing court and remitted the matter to the execution court to take evidence pertaining to the question of the validity of the will. The appellants approached this Court by a special leave petition and on the special leave to appeal being granted preferred Civil Appeal M. 2952 of 1971. During the pendency of the appeal before the Court the respondent moved a petition in the Court of 5th Additional Judicial Commissioner Chhota Nagpur at Ranchi for obtaining the probate of the will of late Ram Dulari. The jurisdiction of the Court was invoked on the allegation that late Ram Dulari was staying with Narendra Lal at Mesra for a period of over 20 years before her death. The learned 5th Additional Judicial Commissioner Chhota Nagpur at Ranchi as per his order dated July 8 1977 granted the probate of the will Consequently the appeal pending before this Court was dismissed on February 21 1978 Thereafter the respondent approached the executing court to proceed further with the execution application. The appellant in the meantime filed a suit questioning the validity legality and genuineness of the win of Smt. Ram Dulari When the execucuting court proceeded with the execution application the appellants appeared and moved an application under Order 21 Rule 29 of the Civil Procedure Code with a request to stay further proceedings of the execution application on the ground; (i) that the will in favour of Narendra Lal was forged one; (ii) that the 5th Additional Judicial Commissioner Chhota Nagpur at Ranchi had no jurisdiction to grant probate since the property covered by the decree was of the value of more than Rs. 1 lac and the same was situated beyond the Courts original jurisdiction; (iii) that the probate could not be operative in the State of Madhya Pradesh and (iv) that the civil suit challenging the validity of the will is pending. The executing court held that the 5th Additional Judicial Commissioner Chhota Nagpur at Ranchi had no jurisdiction to grant the probate of the will in respect of the property exceeding Rs. 10 0 in value situated in another State and therefore the grant was not valid. Consequently it was held that the respondent must establish the genuineness of t







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