Civil Revision No. 6299 of 2011 (O&M) -1- IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Civil Revision No. 6299 of 2011 (O&M) Date of decision:- 09.11.2011 Smt. Sarbati Devi ...Petitioner Versus General Public and another ...Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE RITU BAHRI Present:- Mr. S.K. Yadav, Advocate for the petitioner. 1. To be referred to the Reporters or not? 2. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest? RITU BAHRI J.(Oral) This revision petition is against judgment dated 10.06.2011 passed by Additional District Judge, Chandigarh vide which the appeal of the petitioner has been dismissed and judgment dated 31.07.2010 passed by Civil Judge (Junior Division), Chandigarh, vide which the application of the petitioner was disposed of. The petitioner filed an application under Section 372 of Indian Succession Act, 1925 for grant of succession certificate alleging that deceased Rajpal Singh s/o late Shri. Raghubir Nath r/o Village Nangal Mundi, Tehsil and District Rewari was her son, who had died on 01.10.2006. Deceased Rajpal was working as a Peon in Haryana Secretariate. Being the mother of deceased Rajpal and class I heir of the deceased, she claimed that she is entitled to (a) amount of GPF (b) Gratuity amount (c) Leave Encashment (d) Death grant (e) any other amount payable. Civil Revision No. 6299 of 2011 (O&M) -2- Pursuant to the notice issued to the General Public, respondent- Usha Rani appeared and filed her written statement. She contended herself to be the legal heir of deceased Rajpal Singh being his widow and thus entitled to all his retiral benefits. She had two daughters namely Monika Chauhan and Parul Chauhan. The said dismissal of the application filed by Smt. Sarbati Devi on the ground that she had concealed this fact. On the basis of pleadings of the parties, following issues were framed:- 1. “Whether the plaintiff is entitled for succession certificate as prayed for? OPP 2. Whether the petitioner has received retiral benefits of deceased Rajpal? OPP 3. Whether the respondent No. 2 is legal heir of deceased and is entitled for retiral benefit of deceased Rajpal Singh? OPR 4. Relief.” The trial Court returned the finding on issue Nos. 1 to 3 against the petitioner -Smt. Sarbati Devi (mother of the deceased on the following grounds: 1. While appearing as P.W.1-Smt. Sarbati Devi in his cross examination categorically admitted that her son was not residing with her in their village as he had shifted to Chandigarh due to his job in Haryana Government. She has stated that Rajpal was residing in Sector 23 and admitted that Usha Rani, Monika and Parul were also residing with Rajpal in that house. At the same time, she showed her ignorance as to whether Usha, Monika and Parul are still residing in that house where Rajpal was residing. To the same effect, Ram Parkash (P.W.2) and Jaibir Singh gave their statements. (2) Usha Rani appearing as D.W.4 tendered her affidavit Ex.DW4/A. Civil Revision No. 6299 of 2011 (O&M) -3- She stated that she was married to Rajpal about 30 years ago and that after marriage she was residing with her husband's in-laws. Out of this wedlock, two daughters were born to her. She also tendered the original passport of her daughter namely Monika in her evidence and examined S.C. Mehta from the Passport Officer, who proved the original Passport (Ex.D6). As per the record, the parentage and the address mentioned in the passport are correct. Since the passports are issued after the report of police authorities, the trial Court concluded that Usha Devi was the wife of Rajpal Singh and he had two daughters namely Monika and Parul. (3) The petitioner had placed on record Ex.P1 i.e copy of the plaint which is alleged to have been instituted by the respondent-Usha Rani in New Delhi. In this plaint, she herself stated to be widow of Satish Kumar (late). However, the trial Court held that copy of the plaint does not support the case of the petitioner as in the amended plaint, it was written Usha Rani w/o Rajbir Singh though after cutting the name of Rajbir Singh name of Satish Kumar (late) had been typed. (4) Respondent-Usha in order to prove herself as widow of deceased Rajpal tendered Identity card of deceased Rajpal Singh Chauhan issued by the office of wherein the columns of dependents name of petitioner Smt. Sarbati Devi as mother, name of respondent-Usha Rani, Moni, Parul also figures as wife and daughters of the deceased Rajpal. The respondent also examined Madan Lal care taker from the office of Haryana Civil Secretariat in order to prove the Identity Card, who produced the original record Civil Revision No. 6299 of 2011 (O&M) -4- regarding issuance of I-Card and prove the photocopy of the I-Card (Ex.P3). The application was finally disposed of on 31.07.2010 by Civil Judge (Jr. Divn) Chandigarh by giving a direction that the succession certificate be issued in favour of the petitioner-Sarbati mother of the deceased Rajpal along with in favour of Usha Rani being wife of deceased Raj Pal and Monika and Parul being the daughters of deceased Rajpal in equal shares. Aggrieved by this order, the petitioner challenged this order in appeal. The lower Appellate Court has held that learned trial Court has rightly come to conclusion that Usha was wife of deceased Raj Pal; whereas Parul and Monika are daughters and rightly granted the succession certificate in favour of the plaintiff as well as of Usha and her daughters Monika and Parul in equal share and there is no illegality in the order of the learned trial Court and all the findings of the trial Court were affirmed by the lower Appellate Court. In view of the above, no interference is required for in the orders passed by both the Courts below. The findings given by both the Courts below that Usha was wife of deceased Raj Pal; whereas Parul and Monika are daughters and the succession certificate should be issued in favour of the plaintiff as well as of Usha and her daughters Monika and Parul in equal share, suffer from no illegality. Accordingly, civil revision is dismissed. November 09, 2011 ( RITU BAHRI ) G.Arora JUDGE