Whether the court can revoke letter of administration if all legal heirs are not made parties to the suit?

  As per Section 263, the grant of Letters of Administration may be revoked for “just cause”. Explanation (a) under Section 263 states that just cause shall be deemed to exist where the proceedings were defective in substance. Illustration (ii) under Section 263 deals with a case where “the grant was made without citing parties who ought to have been cited”. {Para 6}

7. It may be of interest to note that some of the colonial statutes contain Illustrations which form part of the statutes themselves. The Indian Succession Act, 1925 is one such enactment.

8. Therefore, the High Court was right in holding that a just cause existed for revoking the grant. Hence, we do not find any error in the order of the High Court warranting our interference. Therefore the appeals are dismissed.

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

CIVIL APPEAL NO. 798-799 OF 2013;

SWAMINATHAN & ORS. Vs ALANKAMONY (DEAD) THROUGH LRS.

Coram: HEMANT GUPTA; V. RAMASUBRAMANIAN, JJ.

Dated: 9 March, 2022

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Whether letter of administration can be revoked on ground of absence of personal citation to daughters of deceased?

 There happens to be no controversy with regard to
grounds so enumerated under Section 263 of the Indian Succession
Act permitting revocation and one of the grounds happens to be
absence of citation. The judgment and order impugned deals with the
aforesaid theme only. In order to scrutinize the finding recorded by
the learned lower Court, the original petition of Civil Misc. (Probate)
Case No.33 of 2010 has been gone through wherefrom it is evident
that in Para-6 of the petition only presence of three daughters have 
been shown without disclosing their names as well as full address (at
present or permanent). In absence thereof, really personal service
would have been effected as contended on behalf of learned counsel
for the appellant is a matter of concern which, ultimately frustrate the
submission made on behalf of learned counsel for the appellant.
Record did not speak with regard to identification of three daughters
of testator Late Basudeo Tiwary by name and further, any requisite for
issuance of notice against them to be available on the record.
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
Miscellaneous Appeal No.78 of 2012

RAMA SHANKAR TIWARI V SNEH LATA PANDEY 

CORAM:  MR. JUSTICE ADITYA KUMAR TRIVEDI
Citation:AIR 2016 (NOC)435 PAT
Date: 05-04-2016

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