In the probate case No.15 of 1972, the court at Ooty granted probate vide order dated 29.07.1972 in favour of the executor.
She, as the copy was not supplied, preferred a Writ Petition No.11266 of 2018 praying for a direction in the nature of mandamus commanding the respondents to furnish the probate copy granted in O.P. He further stated that late Chakravarthy Duraisamy, then the senior partner in the firm, had faithfully discharged his obligation as per the Will by obtaining the order of probate and by submitting the accounts to the court. As per the practice prevalent in those days, the original Will used to be enclosed with the probate order hence there is a possibility that the original Will may have been returned to the executor along with the probate order for the purposes of execution.
Mary Brigit, petitioners Nos.2-9, probably her sons and daughters were impleaded by the High Court as petitioners vide order dated 25.11.2021.
No.15 of 1972 states that about 24 years ago in 1998, the staff of the district court had destroyed the case record of O.P. The learned Registrar General of the High Court of Madras apprises the court that the records pertaining to O.P. No.15 of 1972 were never transferred to the High Court by the erstwhile Sub Court, Udhagamandalam.
It is not clear if actually the original Will formed part of the record and has also been destroyed but as per practice, the original Will might have been returned with the probate to the executor; and 9 x.
Also Read: https://newslaw.in/case-type/criminal/crl-a-no-001671-001673-2023/
The senior partner of the said firm, in order to discharge his responsibilities as the executor, not only applied for the probate and obtained it but also filed the inventory in respect of the estate/assets of the deceased as well the final accounts before the court on 20.01.1973 and 09.07.1973 respectively as required under Section 317 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925; meaning thereby that the 10 executor settled and disposed of the estate/assets of the deceased as per the Will amongst the beneficiaries in the year 1973 itself leaving nothing to be done thereafter.
In fact, it is claimed by the writ petitioner in paragraph 3 of the writ petition that she got the particulars about the filing of the probate proceedings, only from Lloyds Bank, which has main establishment at England.
In the normal circumstances, with the probate embossed on the Will, the original should have been handed over to the Executor.
Also Read: https://newslaw.in/case-type/civil/c-a-no-007467-007470-2014/
Therefore, we think that the High Court was right in expressing its inability to grant any relief to the writ petitioner.
Case Title: A. WILSON PRINCE Vs. THE NAZAR (2023 INSC 537)
Case Number: SLP(C) No.-017303 / 2022
