Ratio-Registration of will only will not remove the suspicion regarding its valid execution.

A. SUBBULAKSHMY, J.

1. Plaintiff is the appellant.

2. The case of the plaintiff is as follows:

The plaintiff filed the suit for grant of letters of administration. The plaintiff is the only sister of the deceased P.N. Meenaskhi. The said Meenakshi executed a Will on 25.3.1985 while she was taking treatment in the Guest Hospital, Madras. The plaintiff alleged that the testatrix of the Will was deserted by her husband, who is the first defendant, from 1965 till she died in 1985 and only the plaintiff was looking after her. The deceased Meenakshi was a patient and she also had her uterus removed and was taking treatment at Madras under the care of the plaintiff. The plaintiff only got the deceased admitted into the Guest Hospital. The deceased executed the Will in favour of the plaintiff as sole legatee. The deceased had no children and her husband also deserted her 20 years back. After the death of the said Meenakshi, the first defendant filed O.S. No. 350 of 1985 on the file of Vadakkanchery District Munsif claiming the property of the deceased and also sought to set aside the Will executed by the deceased bequeathing her properties to the plaintiff. The plaintiff was under the impression that the validity of the Will would be decided in the said suit but, when she went to Trichur and met her advocate in connection with that case, she was advised that since the Will is executed at Madras, the validity or otherwise of the said Will has to be proved before this Court and the amount of assets left behind by Meenakshi does not exceed Rs. 2.0,000. So, the plaintiff has come forward with the present suit seeking grant of letters of administration.

3. The first defendant filed written statement contending as follows:

The alleged Will purported to have been executed by Meenakshi is not genuine and is not a valid testamentary document. This defendant has not deserted or divorced the testatrix. This defendant has also not committed adultery with anybody as alleged in the Will. The Will has come into existence under suspicious circumstances. The Will has been prepared at the instance of the testatrix in the Hospital at room No.305, Guest Hospital, Madras through her advocate who lives very near to her place and as such, it does not reflect the true disposing state of mind of the testatrix and as such it is not a valid document. The deceased Meenakshi was taking treatment and she was looked after by her sister but this defendant has not deserted her or abandoned her. The plaintiff has removed gold jewels roughly weighing about 25 sovereigns and has also hatched a conspiracy with the help of her well-wishers Dr.K.Kannan and C.N.Narayanan the attesting witnesses to the Will to knock off the entire estate. The said Meenakshi even though signed in English, she is not capable of reading and writing English. So, the preparation, execution and registration of the Will creates unambiguous doubts as to how it has come into existence without reference to this defendant, who has been contributing for her welfare, while Meenakshi was in Kerala and when she was undergoing treatment at Madras. Only the plaintiff has taken prominent part in the execution of the Will which confers absolute benefits on her. This defendants wife Meenakshi had always love and affection for her aged husband and she never said anything ill of him during her lifetime and the recital in the alleged Will are contrary to her state of mind and the testatrix has not executed the Will out of her own free will or volition. The alleged Will has been prepared hurriedly in collusion with the plaintiff and two others, the attesting witnesses who have been promised consideration for preparing and in attesting the Will. The plaintiff has exerted pressure and has got the alleged Will prepared by her by obtaining signature of the testatrix in the Hospital when she was not in her full conscience as would reflect from the particulars this defendant obtained from the hospital. The Will