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Judgment
By this first appeal the appellant impugns the order of the
trial court dated 18.1.2017 dismissing her application for revocation of
the succession certificate. The succession certificate was granted to
Smt. Sonia Yadav and Sh. Bhim Singh, respondent nos. 2 and 3 in this
appeal, and who are the daughter and husband of the deceased Smt.
Kamla Devi. Respondent nos. 2 and 3, Smt. Sonia Yadav and Sh.
Bhim Singh were granted the succession certificate on account of they
being the daughter and husband of late Smt. Kamla Devi who died on
25.4.2015, and hence the legal heirs of Smt. Kamla Devi under the
Hindu Succession Act, 1956. Appellant applied for revocation of the
succession certificate granted on the ground that Smt. Kamla Devi did
not reside with the petitioners of the succession certificate case,
respondent nos. 2 and 3 herein, for around 35 years and that there is
nomination in favour of the present appellant in the government
records. Accordingly, the appellant prayed for revocation of the
succession certificate on the ground of the appellant being the nominee
in the government records as late Smt. Kamla Devi was a government
employee.
The court below has dismissed the petition for revocation
of succession certificate granted on the ground that under the Hindu
Succession Act, respondent nos. 2 and 3 herein, petitioners in the
succession certificate case were the legal heirs. This conclusion is
correct in view of Section 15(1)(a) of the Hindu Succession Act.
The court below has further held that nomination will not
make the nominee as the owner of the property. I also agree with this
conclusion of the court below that nomination is not a Will in law
inasmuch as this is the settled legal position in terms of the judgment
of the Supreme Court in the case of Smt. Sarbati Devi and Another
Vs. Smt. Usha Devi AIR 1984 SC 346.
The present case is indeed a hard case because the
petitioners of the succession certificate case are walking away with the property of the deceased Smt. Kamla Devi although Smt. Kamla Devi
had separated from the petitioners of the succession certificate case
before 35 years prior to the death of Smt. Kamla Devi, however, in the
view of the settled legal position that nomination is not a Will, and in
the absence of the any Will of Smt. Kamla Devi in favour of the
present appellant who is the real sister of the deceased Smt. Kamla
Devi, only those persons who are legal heirs under the Hindu
Succession Act inherit the properties, accordingly this Court has no
option but to dismiss the present appeal.
The appeal is accordingly dismissed, leaving the parties to
bear their own costs.