Petition for Letters of Administration of a will bequeathing the testator's house to his wife absolutely, with a further bequest of the property equally among four daughters after her death. Contesting respondents argued the will was conditional. The court held such a restricted bequest is valid and directed issuance of Letters of Administration.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
$~O-60
Date of Decision : 19.03.2025
IN THE MATTER OF:
RAJ MOHINI JUNEJA .....Petitioner Through: Mr. Ashim Vaccher, Sr. Adv with Ms. Saiba Meher Rajpal, Adv along with petitioner in person.
versus
STATE AND ORS. .....Respondents Through: Mr. Anmol Adhrit, Adv for R-2. Mr. Narendra Kalra, Adv for R-3. Mr. Puneet Srivastava, Adv for R-4 along with R-4. Mr. Ashish Sinha and Ms. Ishita Sinha, Advs for R-5.
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE PURUSHAINDRA KUMAR KAURAV
JUDGEMENT
PURUSHAINDRA KUMAR KAURAV, J. (ORAL)
The instant petition under Section 276 of the Indian Succession Act, 1956 has been filed by petitioner, i.e, Ms. Raj Mohini Juneja, who is the wife of Late Sh. Kesho Nath Juneja ( hereinafter referred to as „testator‟ ), for Letters of Administration (LoA) of the will and testament dated 06.08.2015 ( hereinafter referred to as „The Will‟ ).
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Gurditta Ram Juneja, was the husband of the petitioner and father of the respondent nos. 2 to 5. Furthermore, it is manifest in the petition that the testator was the absolute owner and resident of House No. E-130B, Ashok Vihar, Phase-I, Delhi-110052 (hereinafter referred to as „subject property‟ ). According to the petition, the testator left for the heavenly abode on 29.11.2019, and during his lifetime, he executed the Will, wherein, he has bequeathed the subject property to the petitioner.
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the petitioner, the substantial rights of the daughters would be adversely affected.
“9. The person to whom letters of administration are granted does not thereby become entitled to the property or estate of the deceased. The estate still succeeds according to the law of succession application to the deceased. The purpose of Letters of Administration is merely to enable the administrator so appointed by the Court to collect/ assimilate the properties of the deceased, and/ or to deal with the various authorities with whom the properties of the deceased may be vested or recorded and to realize the same and / or to have the same transferred in the names of
1 158(200) DLT 713
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the successors in accordance with law of succession applicable to the deceased. The administrator is required to, from time-to-time, file accounts in the Court with respect to the administration of the estate and/ or as to how the estate has been settled/ transferred to the successors in accordance with law of succession application to the deceased and upon the administrator defaulting in the same, the Court retains the power to revoke the grant”
“… However, upon a perusal of the same, it is seen that, the Court, after considering the principles laid down in Radha Sundar Dutta v. Mohd. Jahadur14 and Rameshwar Bakhsh Singh v. Balraj Kuar15, formulated the legal principle that when a testator grants a restricted or limited interest in the property, they retain the authority to make a subsequent bequest of the same property, effective upon the death of the initial beneficiary, within the same will …”
10. The Will in question is extracted hereinunder:
“ WILL
This is the last Will and Testament of me Kesho Nath Juneja Son of Late Shri Gurditta Ram Juneja, resident of E-130B, Ashok Vihar, Phase-I, Delhi-110052. I executed one Will earlier which was registered with the Sub-Registrar on 16.10.2007 and in supersession of that Will I execute this present Will as my last and final Will and revoke the said earlier Will and by this Will I declare that this Will is my last and final Will.
I am the absolute and exclusive owner of House No. E-130B, Ashok Vihar, Phase-l, Delhi-110052 and this is my self acquired property and I am in physical possession of the same.
2 2024:DHC:10057
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That by this Will I hereby state and declare that so long as I am alive, I will remain the exclusive and absolute owner of H. No. E-130B, Ashok Vihar, Phase-1, Delhi-110052 and I may deal with and dispose of the same in whatever manner I may choose.
I hereby bequeath the said property i.e. H. No. E-130B, Ashok Vihar, Phase-I, Delhi-110052 to my wife Mrs. Raj Mohini Juneja to the exclusion of all others and my wife will alone become the absolute owner of the said house after my death and none else will have got any concern with the same. I further bequeath that all my movable property. Bank and Post Office Accounts will also go to my wife Mrs. Raj Mohini Juneja after my death to the exclusion of all others.
That I have four daughters. My first daughter is Sangeeta Chopra wife of Shri Vijay Chopra, 2nd daughter is Sudha Kalra wife of Shri Sudhir Kalra, 3rd daughter is Shikha Grover wife of Shri Sanjeev Grover and fourth daughter is Jaya Sethi wife of Shri Ravi Sethi.
That 1 by this will further bequeath that after the death of both myself and my wife Mrs. Raj Mohini Juneja, this property bearing H, No. E- 130B, Ashok Vihar, Phase-I. Delhi-110052 shall go to my four daughters namely, Sangeeta Chopra wife of Shri Vijay Chopra, Sudha Kalra wife of Shri Sudhir Kalra, Shikha Grover wife of Shri Sanjeev Grover and Jaya Sethi wife of Shri Ravi Sethi in equal share having 1/4th each.
I am making this my last Will of my own accord and free will being in full senses and without any coercion or influence whatsoever from any person.
IN WITNESS WHRE OF, I Kesho Nath Juneja do hereby set my hands and put my signatures on my this last Will at Delhi on this the 6th day of July,2015 in the presence of the witnesses.
SD... (KESHONATH JUNEJA)
EXECUTANT
Signed by the above mentioned Kesho Nath Juneja in our presence at the same time and in the presence of each other and at his instance each of us have in the presence of the testator and in the presence of each other signed hereunder as attesting witnesses after the contents of the Will have been read over and admitted by the testator Shri Kesho Nath Juneja to be true and correct.
1. Witness: -sd-
Harish Juneja S/o Sh. Hari Krishan Juneja MPP77B PITAMPURA NEW DELHI PanNo ADPJ13426
2. Witnwss : -sd-
Renu Juneja W/o Harish Juneja And C/o Jagdish Chandar Election Id No. ZFKO185603 NPP-77/B, PITAMPURA, NEWDELHI ”
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PURUSHAINDRA KUMAR KAURAV, J
MARCH 19, 2025 /aks/mjo
Click here to check corrigendum, if any
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1 issue framed by the court
Whether Letters of Administration should be granted to the petitioner under the will dated 06.08.2015 despite its conditional bequest to the daughters after her death.
Colour shows how this judgement treated each authority
Sh. Raj Rani Bhasin vs. StateRelied on¶8
158(200) DLT 713
Puneet Kumar Anand v. Pishori Lal (Deceased) Thr LrsApplied¶9
2024:DHC:10057
1 provisions across 1 enactments
Raj Mohini Juneja
State
Respondent No. 2
Respondent No. 3
Respondent No. 4
Respondent No. 5
Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
