NIDHI KUKAL Vs. GENERAL PUBLIC

JUDGEMENT

(1.) LATE Subhash Chander Kukal was in Government service and occupied government accommodation bearing H. No. 36, Sector 22 -A, Chandigarh. He died in Chandigarh on 19.7.1991. It is stated that on his death, his wife Asha Rani Kukal was given compassionate appointment in Haryana Government and the government accommodation where she lived with her husband was allotted to her. She passed away on 2.7.2009. The petitioner is the adopted child of late Smt. Asha Rani Kukal. She was adopted on 27.4.1992, as per Hindu ceremonies. The petitioner resides at New Delhi. The properties left behind by Smt. Asha Rani Kukal are in District Mohali. The petitioner filed a petition under Section 278 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 (for short "the Act") for grant of Letters of Administration of Will dated 3.10.2008 with respect to the estate of late Smt. Asha Rani Kukal. Late Smt. Asha Rani Kukkal had willed her property to her adopted child Nidhi Kukal, the petitioner. The petitioner has proved the will, the death certificate etc. through oral as well as documentary evidence to support the claim for grant of Letters of Administration. Learned Additional District Judge, Chandigarh has returned the petition to be presented before the Court at Mohali where admittedly, the properties are situated. The learned court below has taken the view that in terms of Section 269 of the Act, the petitioner cannot maintain the petition within the jurisdiction of Chandigarh for lack of territorial jurisdiction. The petition has been returned. Reference to Section 269 of the Act appears to have been an accidental slip. The provision which is applicable in the present case is Section 270 of the Act which reads as follows: -

(2.) THE aforesaid provision prescribes that an action will lie in a Court within the territory where the testator or intestate had his/her abode. In the present case, the properties in Mohali are the self -acquired properties of late Smt. Asha Rani Kukal. The death certificate dated 7.7.2009 issued by the Chandigarh Administration, Department of Health Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh certifying the date of death as 2.7.2009 is Annexure P -3. The death certificate alone is conclusive proof that the last place of abode of Smt. Asha Rani Kukal was at Chandigarh, and therefore, the trial court at Chandigarh had jurisdiction to grant the Letter of Administration. Merely because the properties were situated in Mohali would not result in loss of territorial jurisdiction at Chandigarh in terms of Section 270 of the Act.