Swarnalatha vs Kalavathy

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

Civil Appeal No.1565 of 2022 (Arising out of Special Leave Petition (C) No.13840 of 2019)

SWARNALATHA & ORS. ...APPELANT(S)

VERSUS

KALAVATHY & ORS. ...RESPONDENT(S)

JUDGMENT

V. Ramasubramanian

1. The probate granted by the District Court in respect of two last

Wills and Testaments, one by the father and another by the mother,

having been set aside by the High Court in an appeal under Section

384 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 (hereinafter referred to as

“the Act”), one set of legatees claiming under the Will have come up

with the above appeal.

Signature Not Verified

2. Digitally signed by Jayant Kumar Arora Date: 2022.03.30 We have heard Mr. V. Prabhakar, learned counsel for the 17:12:39 IST Reason:

appellants and Mr. Jayanth Muthraj, learned senior counsel

1 appearing for the respondents.

3. The couple, Mannar Reddiar and Adhilakshmiammal had two

sons by name V.M. Chandrasekaran and V.M. Sivakumar and a

daughter by name Kalavathy.

4. The mother Adhilakshmiammal died on 14.08.1995. She left

behind a Will dated 30.01.1995, bequeathing the properties

purchased by her and the properties which she got from her

maternal uncle, in favour of her two sons. The daughter Kalavathy

was not given any share, on the ground that she had already been

provided sufficiently.

5. The father Mannar Reddiar died on 08.08.2000. He left behind

a Will dated 10.12.1998 bequeathing his properties in favour of his

two sons and his grandchildren. The daughter Kalavathy was not

allotted any property even under this Will, but the Will contained

reasons.

6. The eldest son V.M. Chandrasekaran died subsequently in

October, 1999, leaving behind him surviving, his wife Swarnalatha

and two sons by name C. Karthikeyan and C. Rishikesan, who are

the appellants herein.

2

7. Thereafter, the daughter Kalavathy and the surviving son V.M.

Sivakumar (of the testators) filed a suit for partition in O.S. No.387

of 2005 on the file of the District Munsiff Court, Poonamallee. Upon

coming to know of the same, the appellants herein who are the wife

and sons of the eldest son V.M. Chandrasekaran filed a petition in

probate O.P No.1 of 2005 on the file of the Principal District Judge,

Vellore, under Sections 270, 276 and 289 of the Act for the grant of

probate of the Wills of Mannar Reddiar and Adhilakshmiammal.

The petition was hotly contested by the daughter and other son of

the testators. However, by a judgment dated 7.06.2010, the District

Court granted probate of both the Wills namely the Will dated

30.01.1995 executed by the mother Adhilakshmiammal and the

Will dated 10.12.1998 executed by the father Mannar Reddiar.

8. Challenging the judgment of the Probate Court, the daughter

and the other son of the testators (respondents 1 and 2 herein) filed

an appeal under Section 384 of the Act on the file of the High Court

of Judicature at Madras. The said appeal was allowed by the High

Court by the impugned judgment on the ground that there are

suspicious circumstances surrounding the execution of both the

3 Wills. Therefore, aggrieved by the said judgment, the legatees are on

appeal before us.

9. The claim of the appellants before the Probate Court was that

the parents executed their last Will and Testament, in a sound and

disposing state of mind and that those Wills were executed in the

manner prescribed by law. To establish the execution of the Will of

the mother Adhilakshmiammal, in terms of Section 68 of the Indian

Evidence Act, 1872, the appellants examined Mr. S. Rajasekaran as

PW­2. He was one of the attestors of the Will. The other attestor of

the Will was none else than the father Mannar Reddiar. One Mr. B.

Nithyanandham, the scribe of the Will of the Mother was also

examined as PW­3.

10. One Mr. M. Dakshinamurthy, who was one of the attestors of

the Will of the father Mannar Reddiar, was examined as PW­4 and

the scribe of the said Will by name Mr. V. Sivaram, was examined

as PW­5.

11. While the Will executed by the mother Adhilakshmiammal was

an unregistered Will, the Will executed by the father Mannar

Reddiar was a registered Will. Both these Wills were marked as

4 Exhibits P­1 and P­2 respectively. The death certificates of the

testators were marked as Exhibits P­3 and P­4 and the copy of the

plaint in the partition suit filed by the respondents was marked as

Exhibit P­5.

12. The daughter Kalavathy (Respondent No.1) examined herself

as RW­1 and the other brother Shri V.M. Sivakumar (Respondent

No.2) examined himself as RW­2. No documents were marked on

the side of the respondents.

13. The respondents contested the probate proceedings on the

ground that their parents never executed any Will and that the

elder son V.M. Chandrasekaran played a fraud by taking signatures

of the mother on blank papers and fabricating the same into a Will

and that in any case the testators had no right to dispose of the

properties by way of a Will.

14. Before the Probate Court, the respondents focused their

attention on the so­called suspicious circumstances surrounding

both the Wills. Though the respondents also raised a contention

that the testators had no right to dispose of those properties by way

of a Will, the Probate Court rejected the same outright on the

5 ground that the scope of jurisdiction of the Probate Court was not

to decide disputed questions of title to any property.

15. Insofar as the allegations of suspicious circumstances are

concerned, the Probate Court was not convinced that the

circumstances highlighted by the respondents raised any suspicion.

Therefore, the court of original jurisdiction ordered the grant of

probate.

16. While reversing the Judgment of the Probate Court, the High

Court recorded the following findings:

(i) Adhilakshmiammal, the testatrix of the unregistered Will (Exhibit P­1) dated 30.01.1995 was said to be suffering from ailments, prior to the execution of the Will. The ailments could be physical or mental and while physical ailment cannot be a ground to question the veracity of the Will, mental ailment will certainly be a ground. The non­furnishing of the particulars of the ailments suffered by the testatrix Adhilakshmiammal created a doubt;

(ii) The failure of the legatees to probate the Will of the mother Adhilakshmiammal during the life time of the father Mannar Reddiar is a suspicious circumstance;

(iii) According to PW­1, the Will executed by the father Mannar Reddiar, marked as Exhibit P­2 was written during night hours of 10.12.1998 but according to the 6 evidence of PWs 4 and 5 (one of the attestors and the scribe) the Will was written at 7:00 a.m. and was registered at 3:00 p.m. on 10.12.1998. The contradiction between the statement of PW­1 and the statements of PWs 4 and 5 in this regard created suspicion.

(iv) The ignorance of PW­1 about the date and time of registration of the Will of the father was one more circumstance that created a suspicion.

(v) The failure of the father to ensure the presence of the daughter and the second daughter­in­law during the execution of both the Wills is one more circumstance creating a suspicion.

(vi) The presence of the first appellant herein at the time of execution of both the Wills, despite the appellant No.1 being a direct beneficiary, is also a circumstance to be taken notice of.

(vii) Exhibit P­1 (Will) executed by the mother runs to six pages. The signature of the testatrix is found exactly at the same location in pages 4 and 6. The super­imposition of pages 4 and 6 shows that the signature of the testatrix had been taken in Exhibit P­1 (Will) at the same place.

(viii) The line space in the first part of Exhibit P­1 (Will) is more than the line space in other parts of the Will.

There is some difference in the style of writing in the first two pages from the writing in the last two pages of the Will. The signatures of the attestors of and the scribe are 7 found within a small space. The signature of Mannar Reddiar as an attesting witness to Exhibit P­1 (Will) is not found below the word ‘witness’ but found by the side.

(ix) It is not clear as to how appellant No.1 came into the possession of the Will. There is no material to show whether the first appellant’s husband V.M. Chandrasekaran pre­deceased the parents. In this context the delay in seeking probate creates a serious doubt.

(x) The total exclusion of the daughter from the bequest and the failure to mention in the Wills, the dates on which the daughter was paid certain amounts, are crucial.

17. But each one of the above circumstances, neither individually

nor collectively creates a suspicion. The signature of the mother

Adhilakshmiammal in Exhibit P­1 (Will) is not disputed. It was

executed on 30.01.1995 and her husband namely Mannar Reddiar

was one of the attestors to the Will. In fact the reading of Exhibit P­

1 (Will) goes to show that the daughter Kalavathy was given in

marriage to a bank employee way back in the year 1970. According

to Exhibit P­1 (Will), the daughter was provided 50 sovereigns of

gold jewellery at the time of the wedding. She was also given various

amounts at different points of time totaling to Rs.75,000/­. It was

8 further claimed in Exhibit P­1 (Will) that the mother gave

Rs.25,000/­ to the daughter Kalavathy for the purpose of purchase

of two plots of land at Ambattur, in the outskirts of Chennai. The

Will also mentions that the daughter’s daughter was given in

marriage to the second son V.M. Sivakumar. This is the reason why

the second son V.M. Sivakumar joined hands with the daughter

Kalavathy. Exhibit P­1 also makes a mention about the sum of

Rs.40,000/­ paid towards the discharge of a debt incurred by

Kalavathy’s husband (son­in­law).

18. Unfortunately, the High Court completely overlooked all the

above aspects and proceeded to invent reasons to justify a

conclusion that seems to have preceded the line of reasoning.

19. Similarly Exhibit P­2 (Will of the father) contains recitals to the

effect that the daughter’s daughter was given in marriage to the

second son V.M. Sivakumar and that Adhilakshmiammal had left

behind a Will dated 30.01.1995.

20. Once it is found that the father Mannar Reddiar not only

attested the mother’s Will (Exhibit P­1) and once it is found that in

his own Will (Exhibit P­2), which is a registered Will, the father had

9 made a mention about the mother’s Will, all the suspicious

circumstances sought to be projected would automatically fall to

the ground.

21. When it was not even the case of the respondents that the

testators were not in a sound and disposing state of mind, the High

Court found fault with the appellants for not disclosing the nature

of the ailments suffered by them. The exclusion of one of the

natural heirs from the bequest, cannot by itself be a ground to hold

that there are suspicious circumstances. The reasons given in

Exhibit P­1 are more than convincing to show that the exclusion of

the daughter has happened in a very natural way. If Exhibit P­1

(Will) had been fabricated on blank papers containing the

signatures of the mother, there would have been no occasion for the

father to make a mention in his own Will (Exhibit P­2) about the

execution of the Will by the mother.

22. We do not know how the High Court held the delay on the part

of the appellants in seeking probate of the Wills to be a suspicious

circumstance. Exhibit P­1 was executed on 30.01.1995 and the

testatrix died on 14.08.1995. The father was alive till 08.08.2000.

10 Therefore, there was no necessity for the appellants to seek probate

of the said Will. After the death of Mannar Reddiar on 08.08.2000,

the appellants obviously had no support, due to the fact that V.M.

Chandrasekaran (husband of appellant No.1 and father of appellant

Nos.2 and 3) had pre­deceased the father Mannar Reddiar. It is

recorded in the impugned Judgment that V.M. Chandrasekaran

died in October­1999.

23. The occasion for the appellants to seek probate of the Will

arose only when the respondents filed the suit for partition in O.S.

No.387 of 2005. Therefore, there was actually no delay on the part

of the appellants in seeking probate.

24. The High Court made a mountain out of a molehill, by reading

too much into the lack of knowledge on the part of appellant No.1

about the time of registration of Exhibit P­2 (Will) and the minor

contradictions between her statement as PW­1 and the statements

of PWs 4 and 5. The adverse inference sought to be drawn by the

High Court about the failure of the testator Mannar Reddiar to

ensure the presence of the daughter and the second daughter­in­

law at the time of execution of Exhibit P­2, has no basis in law.

11

25. The law relating to suspicious circumstances surrounding the

execution of a Will is already well­settled and it needs no

reiteration. It is enough if we make a reference to one of the recent

decisions of this Court in Kavita Kanwar vs. Mrs. Pamela Mehta

and Ors.1 where this Court referred to almost all previous decisions

right from H. Venkatachala Iyengar vs. B.N. Thimmajamma2.

But cases in which a suspicion is created are essentially those

where either the signature of the testator is disputed or the mental

capacity of the testator is questioned. This can be seen from the fact

that almost all previous decisions of this Court referred to in

Kavita Kanwar (supra) list out circumstances, which in the

context of the lack of sound and disposing state of mind of the

testator, became suspicious circumstances. In the matter of

appreciating the genuineness of execution of a Will, there is no

place for the Court to see whether the distribution made by the

testator was fair and equitable to all of his children. The Court does

not apply Article 14 to dispositions under a Will.

26. It is not difficult for an objective mind to understand the

1 AIR 2020 SC 544 2 AIR 1959 SC 443 12 reasons behind the daughter and the second son of the testators

coming together. Under both the Wills Exhibit P­1 and P­2, the

properties have been equally distributed between the two sons. The

first son V.M. Chandrasekaran is now no more. Admittedly

Kalavathy’s daughter has been given in marriage to V.M. Sivakumar

(second son of testator). Therefore, if the bequest under the two

Wills go, V.M. Sivakumar’s family may eventually receive 2/3 rd

share of the properties, which is more beneficial for V.M. Sivakumar

than getting half share under the Wills. Unfortunately, the High

Court completely overlooked this aspect and started analyzing the

Wills with suspicion. Therefore, the impugned Judgment of the High

Court is incapable of being sustained.

27. In view of the above the appeal is allowed. The impugned

judgment of the High Court is set aside and the Judgment of the

Principal District Court, Vellore granting probate of both the Wills,

is restored. There will be no order as to costs.

…..…………....................J. (Hemant Gupta) 13 .…..………......................J (V. Ramasubramanian)

MARCH 30, 2022 NEW DELHI.

14