Legal Reference Library

In Rampali vs State Govt. of NCT of Delhi, the Delhi High Court has held that in cases where someone dies without a will, succession can only be granted to the legal heirs of that person, not the nominee. Justice Valmiki Mehta was hearing an appeal against an order by the trial court dated January 18, 2017, wherein the application for revocation of succession certificate filed by the appellant was rejected. The succession certificate was granted to Sonia Yadav and Bhim Singh, daughter and husband of deceased Kamla Devi, who passed away on April 25 last year. The appellant, Rampali, is the deceased’s sister. She sought revocation of the succession certificate on two grounds. One, the father and daughter had not been residing with the deceased for 35 years and secondly, in government records, Rampali was Kamala Devi’s nominee. The trial court dismissed this application on the ground that Sonia Yadav and Bhim Singh were the legal heirs of Kamla Devi under Section 15 (1)(a) of ...

The Madras High Court has held that a widow is equally entitled, even after remarrying, to receive the Provident Fund amount from her late husband’s account. The court reiterated the fact that the bar under Section 24 of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, was deleted in September 2005, upholding her right to claim herself as a legal representative of her deceased husband. The petitioner had remarried following her husband’s death in 2001. In 2004, on an appeal by the mother of the deceased, the Principal Subordinate Judge had given her the sole right to obtain the amount lying in her son’s Provident Fund account. The widow had preferred an appeal against the said order. Justice N Kirubakaran reiterated the provisions of the Succession Act, 1956, and the Hindu Widow Re-marriage Act, 1856, and held that, ‘the right of the widow not only to remarry, but also to inherit the property of the late husband has been declared and the women, including widows, are treated as co-parcener on par with t...