Richa Kapur & Anr v. Govt of NCT

7r lt Y ?K HIGH COURT OF DELHI : NEW DELHI Date of decision : 6th July, 2009 Ms. Richa Kapur & Anr. ...Petitioners Through : Mr. Rajiv Aneja, Adv. Versus The State (NCT of Delhi) & Anr. ....Respondents Through : Mr. D.R. Bhatia, Adv. for Respondent No.2 Coram: HON'BLE MR. IUSTICE MANMOHAN SINGH

¶1Whether the Reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the judgment? To be referred to Reporter or not? Whettrer the judgment should be reported in the Digest? I,4ANMOHAN SINGH,.T. (Oral)

¶1The present petition has been filed under Section 276 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 for the grant of probate/lettels ol administration of the Will dated 6.8.2002 in respect of the estate of the deceased late Sh. Surinder Mohan Kochlnr by the petitioner No.l who is the daughter of the sister (i.e. late Smt. Aohla Kapur) of the deceased and by the petitionet No.2 who is the daughter of another sister (i.e. Smt. Shashi Kanta Puri) of the deceasecl.

¶2It is stated that the deceased Sh. Surinder UoiiiT:oUrha.rs/o

¶2^J. a \*4 t of4 Certify that the digital file and physical file have been compared and the digital data is as per the physical file and no page is missing. A of Late Shri Sakander Lal Kochhar R/o 3-473, Flat NO.3, Greater Kailash-Il, New Delhi died at Delhi on 31 .12.2007 and the deceased at the time of his death had a fixed and permanent place of abode at Delhi i.e. 3-473, Flat No.3, Greater Kailash-Il, New Delhi where he used to leside with the petitioner No.l in her house. The death certificate is annexed alongwith this petition.

¶3Sh. Surinder Mohan Kochar made and executed a will dated

6.8.2002, duly registered on 7.8.2002 as document No.5546, Vol. No.3 Addl. Book No.1038 on pages 70-7I in the office of sub Registrar, Delhi which was his last will and testament. The will dated 6.8.2002 was duly executed by late Sh. Surinder Mohan Kochhar, the testator in the presence of thc witnesses namely Mr. Paramieet Singh s/o Sh. Ranjeet Singh Rlo A-27lF-1, Block-A, Dilshad Garden, Delhi and Mr. Lalit Kumar Malik, Advocate, Res.-curn-office 8-119, West Patel Nagar, New Delhi-l10008. The testator Surinde-r Mohan Kochhar rvas of sound disposing mind at the tim.e of the execution of his last r,vill and testarnent.

¶4By 'rirtue of the said will, the testertor bequeathed his entire ..tut: in f*out of th. p.ti . The petitioners are -:_-> the only legatees and beneficiaries of the last rvill and testament of the deceased.

¶5The amount of the assets of the deceased are annexed with the petition in Schedule .B to E. It is menti,cned irr the petition that during his life time, the deceased had disposed of his resideptial----- rt) { 2ot4 t .i , property situated atB-36, Greater Kailash-Il, New Delhi-110048.

¶6Apart from the petitioners, the deceased left behind as the legal heirs, Smt. Shashi Kanta Puri, sister of the deceased and Mr. Avinash Kochhar, son of brother of the deceased and Smt. Geeta Bansal (daughter of the sister of the deceased).

¶7The petitioners are claiming the probate of the will/letter of administration and have filed this petition being the executrixes appointed by the will as aforesaid.

¶8Smt. Shashi Kanta Puri respondent No.2 herein filed Test Case No.11/2008 however, the said petition has become infructuous as she filed an affidavit on 28th Muy, 2009 stating that she ltas no objection to the grant of probate of the will as prayed for in the peLition. The next date of hepring in this case is 14th July, 2009. g. Vide order datecl 27tr'Iiebruary, 2009, Local Cornmissioner was appointed to obtain the original rvill dated 6.8.2002 of Sh. Surinderr' IVIohan Kochhar from locker No.1222 of Punjab Natignal Ban!, G.l( parl-Ili Nerv Delhi in'the present test case. the saicl origiual will has now been filed on record. Notice in the present case has been served on alt the legal

¶10heirs on 27th February, 2009 ancl public citation was also issued in respect of the other close relatives of the deceased in the 'statesman' English e<lition dated 3'd April, 2009. However, no objections are raised by any other legal heir/other relatives. Learned counsel for the respondents has made the staternent befbre court on 6th July,2009 that 3 of 4 -\-/ - + the respondents have no objection if the probate is granted.

¶11Smt. Shashi Kanta Puri (also known as Smt. Kanta Puri), respondent No.2 herein also filed an affidavit in this court on 28th Muy, 2009 stating that she has no objection to the grant of probate of the Will as prayed for in this petition.

¶12From the perusal of the Will, it stands proved that the Will was validly and duly executed by the testator and is his last and genuine Will. The petitioners have been appointed as the executrixes of the Will by the deceased testator to inherit all the movable assets of the deceased in equal shares. In view of above, the probate of Wiii is granted irf f'avour of the petitioners. The petition stands disposed of. /}\ .arl t .- ]uLY 46,2009 nn \S^fvz-s.nex.. CAf g1 MANMOFIAN SINGH,'I. *r4L tfr f*( D. l)-l D ol o.7 ly1 c-pL € fu+ \n LA a!4s'od / *'**l L{l3 Probate Casr: No.4/2009 4of4 )t o-5 >I< IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI + ..... Petitioners Ms. Richa Kapur & Anr. Through: Mr. Rajiv Aneja, Adv. for Petitioner No.1 Mr. Kamal Nain, Adv. for Petitioner ..1 No.2 :T VCTSUS The State (NCT of Delhi) & Anr. ..... Respondents Through: None. CORAM: HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE MANMOHAN SINGH O.RDER o/o

26.11.2010 lA No.6919/2O1O & lA No.15849/2O1O These applications have been filed by the petitioner No.1 for extending the duration of the Administration Bond by another six months and three months respectively. Heard. For the reasons stated in the applications the same are allowed and time is extended till 28th February, 20lL to furnish the Administration Bond. The applications are disposed of. lA No.13276l2OLO (U/s 151 CPC) The present application has been filed by the petitioners under Section 151 CPC for directions. After granting the probate of order dated 6.7.2009 on the basis of Will dated 6.8.2002 in favour of the j( petitioners, following assets were discovered by the petitioners in ordinary course of dealing with various authorities :

(a) The Punjab National Bank has released all the monies lying in the accounts held by the deceased including the FDR 146700ss00413037 (Rs.2953) & FDR 146700s500413046 (Rs.199g) which were discovered during settlement of claim on the basis of Probate.

(b) Fortis lnvestment Management (lndia) Pvt. Ltd' (formerly managed by ABN AMRO Mutual Funds) Folio NO'L34103147 (M09G, Tax Advantage ELSS Growth), present holding lying in the above said folio hetd by the deceased is 15793.071 units instead of 10.000 units as mentioned at the time of filing of the present Petition'

(c) The deceased had registered for a housing scheme with Air Force Naval Housing Board, Air Force Station, Race Course, New Delhi' The scheme was cancelled and cheque No.00L879 (Rs'6770; Vijaya Bank)*":was issued by the Air Force Naval Housing Board, in favour of thei deceased as refund of deposit amount. The said un-cashed eheque was submitted by both the petitioners to the Air Force Naval Housing Board for release of the said amount in their favour in equal shares. Liberty was also sought by the petitioners to amend the schedule of assets in case of their discovery which were not mentioned at the >1 time of filing of application and also sought the direction from this Court to the authorities for release of the said assets in favour of the petitioner No.1 and petitioner No.2 in equal shares. Ordered accord ing ly. As prayed, the petitioners are granted two weeks' time to pay the necessary stamp duty in this regard. lA is disposed of. lA No.8O88/2O1O (U/s 151 CPC) The present application has been filed by petitioner No.2 under Section 151 CPC for direction from this Court to the banks wherein the assets of the deceased are lying as detailed in Schedule E to the petition for their distribution in equal proportion in favour of both the petitioners in terms of the order dated 6.7.2009, as modified by this Court in the orders dated 18.9.2009, 3.11.2009, 10.11.2009 and

21.5.2010. The petitioner No.2 is also seeking various other directions from this Court in this regard. In the main order dated 6.7.2009 this Court has already granted the probate in favour of both the petitioners. Therefore, they are entitled to the assets of the deceased which is to be distributed in equal proportion. No further directions are required. lA is disposed of. NOVEMBER 26, 2O1O SA