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2019 (12) TMI 1609 - SUPREME COURTDecree of partition - failure to examine any of the attesting witnesses to the Will as required vide Section 68 of the Evidence Act - HELD THAT:- The summons/notice were issued to Mr. M.N. Sharma, Advocate to appear as a witness but he could not be served and hence was not examined. Ramesh Kumar, it is submitted, was not summoned or examined as he was none other than the husband of Raj Kumari and would not have supported execution of the Will. The High Court has accordingly held that the Will being registered was proved in terms of section 71 of the Evidence Act. This finding of the High Court is unacceptable, for recourse to Section 71 of the Evidence Act is impermissible without examination of Ramesh Kumar. It would not matter if Ramesh Kumar is husband of Raj Kumari. Section 71 of the Evidence Act would come into operation, once and if all the attesting witnesses deny or do not recollect the execution of the document, that is, the Will. In that event, the execution can be proved by other evidence. The respondent accepts that Ramesh Kumar though a witness was not summoned and asked to depose as a witness and therefore, it cannot be said that Ramesh Kumar as an attesting witness had denied or did not recollect execution of the Will. Even on the question of “other evidence” we have grave and serious reservations. It is apparent that late father of Raj Kumari and Surinder Pal Sharma and grandfather of appellants Meenakshi Sharma and Veena Malhotra being a displaced person had applied for a two-room accommodation which was allotted to his wife Suhagwanti on 15.03.1972 as by then he had expired - It has also come on record that Madan Lal, the eldest sibling was earning and in service at the time of allotment. There is also evidence that Madan Lal had contributed and financially helped at the time of marriage of his sisters namely Raj Kumari and Puran Devi. Clearly, Surinder Pal Sharma had not propounded and referred to the Will in his reply, which defence was taken by him for the first time in his written statement. This is also clear from the cross-examination of Surinder Pal Sharma wherein he had accepted as correct that the Will was not challenged by Raj Kumari in the court of law as she had come to know about the Will during the pendency of the present case. The Will which purportedly makes the bequest, is oddly described as a Will Deed. This possibly explains why Surinder Pal Sharma had claimed in his reply, that he was the owner of the tenement even during the lifetime of the mother Suhagwanti. It is in this context that we have read the different portions of the testimony of Raj Kumari and Surinder Pal Sharma; the notice and the reply to hold that there exists grave doubt whether the “Will Deed” was executed and is a “Will” as it purports to be. The marriage of Veena Malhotra as per her wish is not challenged. The testator was an illiterate lady. Even if we are to accept signatures of the testator and the witnesses, we cannot ignore “other evidence” that Suhagwanti and her family members did not understand the true nature of the document executed. There are substantial and good reasons to legitimately suspect and question execution of the Will, which Surinder Pal Sharma, as the propounder of the Will, has not been able to repel and remove so as to satisfy this Court that the Will was validly executed. For these reasons, we would hold that execution of the Will has not been proved by “other evidence” in terms of Section 71 of the Evidence Act. The present appeal should be allowed and the judgment of the High Court should be set aside.
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