- (1.) Leave granted. The effect of creation of a Trust by the Executor of a Testamentary Disposition vis-'-vis the rights of the heirs and legal representatives of the author of the Will is the question involved in this appeal.
(2.) It arises out of a judgment and order passed by the high Court of Karnataka at Bangalore in Regular First Appeal No. 965 of 2004 dismissing the appeal preferred by the appellant from the judgment and order dated 26th March, 2004 passed by the Additional City Civil Judge, Bangalore.
(3.) One Rangammja, was the owner of a huge chunk of land bearing Survey Nos.8, 9, 10, 13, 14 and 15 of Village Sajjepalya and Survey Nos.43 and 44 of Village Malagala measuring 96 acres and 35 guntas. On or about 15th March, 1962, she executed a registered Will appointing her nephew Puttaswamy as the executor and administrator thereof. The said Puttaswamy was also given the right to utilize the property for perpetuating the memory of her husband Krishnappa. He was also given the authority to appoint his successor. The relevant recitals in the said Will are as under:- "I am the widow of Late Shri Krishnappa, son of kempanna, who died on 18.12.1907. Under a Registered Partition Deed dated 18.11.1905, several properties came to the share of my deceased husband Krishnappa and he was in possession and enjoyment of the properties that fell to his share in the said partition deed as the absolute owner thereof till his death. I have no children, male or female, and after the death of my husband on 18.12.1907, I became a limited owner of all the properties that fell to my husband's share and which he left behind at the time of his death. As a limited owner of these properties, I was in possession and enjoyment of them till the year 1956. By reason of the provisions of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 (Central Act 30 of 1956), I became the full and absolute owner of the properties that fell to the share of my husband under the Partition Deed dated 18.11.1905 and which he left behind him on his death. Since 1956, I have been in possession and enjoyment of those properties as the full and absolute owner thereof. I am thus entitled to make a Will in respect of the properties I am owning and enjoying. (c) I hereby devise and bequeath that all the landed property owned by me except the house bequeathed in (a) supra, shall be sold by the Executor appointed under this WILL. He shall invest or deal with the sale amounts in a proper manner and, if invested from the realizations of either rent or interest of the said amounts, he shall perpetuate the name and memory of my deceased husband.";