Decree in administration suit

Petitioner sought review of order passed by High Court under S.295 of the Succession Act, 1925, whereby in view of contentious nature of succession proceedings, application seeking issuance of letters of administration were converted into a civil suit

Contention of applicant inter alia was that impugned order, which converted proceedings into suit for administration and stated that the preliminary decree be passed was contrary to law; and the suit should be regular suit and not a suit for administration

Validity

Impugned order identified the parties and identified as to who should be the plaintiff and defendant and mentioned that the suit would be in the form of a suit for administration of the properties of the deceased and therefore all ingredients of S.295 of the Succession Act, 1925 and O.XX, C.P.C. were fully adhered to

When parties were legal heirs of the deceased and were contesting with regard to share in property left by the deceased, in such situation any one of the legal heirs could file a suit for administration of properties or file an application under S.278 of the Succession Act, 1925 for grant of "letter of administration" and in terms of S.295 of the Succession Act, 1925 in the case where there was contention, then proceedings were supposed to be converted as nearly as they could be, into a "regular suit" according to provisions of the C.P.C.

Court in the impugned order exercised powers of a court of original civil jurisdiction and once an order was passed, the court also had power to take further steps to minimize delay in disposal of dispute and the court was under a statutory obligation to pass an order for preliminary decree

Use of the word "shall" in O.XX, R.13, C.P.C. was of mandatory nature, and the C.P.C. did not envisage any other form a suit except for a suit for administration of properties under O.XX, C.P.C.

No error on the face of record was found in the impugned order

Review application was rejected, in circumstances.

According to O. XX, R. 13(1), court was competent to entertain a suit for account of any property and for the due administration under decree of court

Order XX, R. 13(1), C.P.C. was not confined or restricted to estate of deceased only but object thereof was administration of any property under decree of court for an ultimate object of ordering such accounts inquiries to be taken and made.

Administration of estates was not limited or confined to estate of deceased only but court was competent to undertake such proceedings in respect of any property.

Administration of estate was a temporary step/arrangement not only to pay up/clear liabilities of the deceased but to safeguard interests and rights of all legal heirs for which they would be entitled under law of inheritance which governed them

Object and scope of administration suit relate and revolve around law of inheritance which always demand clearing of liabilities of deceased first and distribution of remaining assets among heirs later.

Object of distribution of remaining estate among those entitled to it was also sufficient to show that scope did not restrict right to file an administration suit to those only who were alive at time of death of deceased

Administration was confined to what deceased had left at time of his/her death

Distribution of estate of a deceased among legal heirs after payment of debts and legacy was a divine direction which in no way could be denied on plea of death of one of legal heir of deceased during intervening period when necessity arose to seek partition or administration

Question of one to be heir or otherwise could well be inquired and determined by court trying administration suit and it gave rise to another question that when normally matter of inheritance was covered through ordinary suit then why law had provided another mechanism for purpose which otherwise appeared to be one of inheritance.

Purpose and object of inquiry was to determine the estate of deceased left at time of death and temporary administration till payment of debts and liabilities out of such estate and finally division/distribution and partition of remainings amongst legal heirs, entitled at such time.

Suit for partition was controlled by S. 8 of Specific Relief Act, 1877 and manner of recording decree was provided by O. XX, R. 18, C.P.C.