Romesh Kumar vs Savitri Devi and Ors.

The question to be considered in this revision is whether production of a succession certificate is necessary for the recovery of the an ears of

rent due to a deceased landlord in respect of property other than land used for Agricultural purposes. For answer to this question, one must

necessarily refer to section 4 of the succession certificate Act 1977 section 4 reads thus :""4 (1) No court shall :

a) Pass a decree against a debtor of a deceased person for payment of his debt to a person claiming on succession to be entitled to the effect of

the deceased person or to any part thereof, or

b) proceed, upon an application of a person claiming to be so entitled, to execute against such debtor or order for the payment of his debt. except

on the production, by the person so claiming of

i) Probate or letters of administration evidence the grant to him of administration to the estate of the deceased, or

ii) a certificate granted under this Act or succession certificate Regulation of 1896 and having the debt, specified therein.

c) The word 'debt' in the subsection (i) includes any debt except rent, revenue profits payable in respect of land used for agricultural purposes.

For purposes of this section the word 'debt' has been given a specific meaning. It includes any debt except rent, revenue profits payable in

respect of land used for agricultural porpoise. It necessarily follows that the word 'debt would include that rent due in respect of urban property In

the circumstances, the production of a succession certificate would be necessary for the recovery of arrears of rent due to a deceased landlord in

respect of a shop as in the present case. But no such certificate would be necessary in respect of the recovery of rent which might have fallen due

to the heirs of the deceased landlord after his death, the view to the contrary held by the trial court is clearly erraneous.

Before the learned Chief Justice who first heard this revision, it seems to have been argued that the definition of the word 'debt' in subsection 2

was not comprehensive enough to include rent due in respect of premises other than the land used for agricultural purposes. This has prompted the

Hon'ble Chief Justice to make a reference to a larger bench, In our opinion the definition is much too clear to admit of any equivocation In that

view, the reference is not wellconceived,

The result is that the revision petition succeeds and it allowed, The order of trial court holding that the production of a succession certificate is

not necessary in respect of the recovery of the arrears of rent due to the deceased land lord is set, aside, The case is sent back to the trial court for

making fresh order in accordance with law, The parties are directed to appear in the trial court on 1511980,