SHUBHRA SINGHAL Vs. STATE AND ORS.
LAWS(DLH)-2013-5-604
HIGH COURT OF DELHI
Decided on May 22,2013

Shubhra Singhal Appellant
VERSUS
State And Ors. Respondents


Referred Judgements :-

ITC LTD. VS. DEBTS RECOVERY APPELLATE TRIBUNAL [REFERRED TO]
IIIACHI DEVI VS. JAIN SOCIETY PROTECTION OF ORPHANS INDIA [REFERRED TO]
LIVERPOOL AND LONDON S P AND I ASSOCIATION LIMITED VS. M V SEA SUCCESS [REFERRED TO]
ANNAPURNA KUMAR VS. SUBODH CHANDRA KUMAR [REFERRED TO]
NOEL DOMINIC PEREIRA VS. PAMELA ETHEL KUHN [REFERRED TO]


JUDGEMENT

Rajiv Sahai Endlaw, J. - (1.)THIS petition under Section 278 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 seeks Letters of Administration to the properties of late Sh. Vinayak Kumar Marwah who died on 29th December, 2009. The petitioner and the respondent No. 3 Ms. Shweta Bhatnagar are the daughters of the deceased from his first marriage. The respondent No. 2 Mrs. Madhubala Marwah is the second wife of the deceased. Notice of the petition was issued (citation was not ordered) on 10th August, 2010 and vide the very next order dated 12th August, 2010 on the appearance of the counsel for the respondents, the parties were referred to mediation and also directed to maintain status quo in respect of the properties mentioned in Schedule A to the petition. Mediation has been unsuccessful. Respondent No. 3 who is the sister of the petitioner, has not opposed the petition.
(2.)OBJECTIONS have been filed by the respondent No. 2 to the effect:
(i) that the petitioner and the respondent No. 3 being the daughters of the deceased from the first marriage of the deceased had during the lifetime of the deceased severed their worldly relations with the deceased and have thus lost their rights of inheritance and stand disinherited from the estate of their deceased father;

(ii) that the petition is bad for non -impleadment of another member of the family namely Ms. Divya Marwah, being the daughter of the respondent No. 2 from an earlier marriage and whom the deceased treated as his own daughter, and who is entitled to a share in his estate and who is described in all records as the daughter of the deceased;

(iii) that the petitioner and the respondent No. 3 had filed a suit against the deceased in the year 1993 in respect of the house standing in the name of their mother and which suit came to be settled and decreed on the basis of a Family Settlement reached between the petitioner and the respondent No. 3 on the one hand and the deceased on the other hand;

(iv) that serious disputes and differences between the petitioner and the respondent No. 3 on the one hand and the respondent No. 2 on the other hand require judicial determination in a suit for partition and this petition seeking Letters of Administration is not maintainable;

(v) that the petitioner and the respondent No. 3 are settled in their respective matrimonial homes and have unlawfully taken over the valuable estate and business being carried on by the deceased and are not entitled to Letters of Administration for this reason also.

The petitioner has filed rejoinder to the aforesaid objections of the respondent No. 2 controverting the contents thereof; it is denied that Ms. Divya Marwah is a legal heir of the deceased or has any share in the estate of the deceased; it is pleaded that the petitioner, respondent No. 2 and respondent No. 3 each have 1/3rd share in the estate.

(3.)ON 8th May, 2013, besides this petition Execution Petition No. 125/2010 filed by the petitioner and the respondent No. 3 seeking execution of the consent decree in the suit earlier filed by the petitioner and the respondent No. 3 against the deceased as well as CCP(O) No. 29/2011 in this Testamentary Case were also listed and which were disposed of. It was noticed on that date that more than three rounds of mediation attempted had failed. Attempt at reconciliation was made on that date also but no settlement could be arrived at. Finding the relationship between the parties to be acrimonious and contentious, it was enquired from the counsel for the petitioner on that date as to how the remedy of Letters of Administration is the appropriate remedy and it was prima facie observed that a suit for partition would be a more appropriate remedy as Letters of Administration could not be granted to one heir who is inimical to others.


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