Delhi High Court
Satula Devi vs Govt. Of Nct Of Delhi And Ors. on 11 July, 2022
Author: Prathiba M. Singh
Bench: Prathiba M. Singh
$~1 (SB)
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
Date of Decision: 11th July, 2022
+ W.P.(C) 1271/2020 & CM APPLs. 697/2022, 9891/2022,
30096/2022
SATULA DEVI ..... Petitioner
Through: Mr. Vikas Singh, Sr. Advocate with
Mr. Varun Singh, Ms. Priyanka
Gosla, Mr. Yatharth Kumar & Ms.
Deepika Kalia, Advocates.
(M:9999422728)
versus
GOVT. OF NCT OF DELHI AND ORS. ..... Respondents
Through: Mr. Anupam Srivastava, ASC for
GNCTD. (M:9811533855)
Mr. Ravi Sharma, Ms. Gunjan
Mangla, Ms. Madhulika Rai Sharma
and Mr. Anjani Kumar Rai,
Advocates for R-4. (M:8800829883)
Mr. B. Shravanth Shanker, Advocate
for R-5. (M:9711551199)
Mr. Sandeep Sethi, Sr. Advocate with
Mr. D. Abhinav Rao for Applicant.
CORAM:
JUSTICE PRATHIBA M. SINGH
Prathiba M. Singh, J. (Oral)
1. The present writ petition relates to guardianship which was sought in respect of a senior citizen who is referred to, since inception, as Mr. DMP, who was a Member of Parliament and was diagnosed with 'fronto-temporal dementia'. The guardianship sought by the Petitioner/Mrs. Satula Devi (hereinafter "Mrs. SD") - i.e., Mr. DMP's wife, was vehemently contested by other family members of Mr. DMP and the petition was heard by this Court from time to time. Mrs. SD was supported by her two sons -
Signature Not Verified W.P.(C) 1271/2020 Page 1 of 10 Digitally Signed By:DEVANSHU JOSHI Signing Date:14.07.2022 15:43:35Respondent No.4/Mr. Rajiv Sharma (hereinafter "Mr. RS"), Respondent No.3/Mr. Ranjit Sharma (hereinafter "Mr. RJS") and their respective families. However, Respondent No.5/Ms. Uma Devi (hereinafter "Ms. UD"), who was Mr. DMP's companion, Intervener/Mr. Umesh Sharma (hereinafter "Mr. US")- Mr. DMP's brother, and Respondent No.6/Mrs. Kanchana Rai (hereinafter "Mrs. KR"), - Mr. DMP's daughter-in-law whose husband was the deceased third son of Mr. DMP, and her sons were opposing the present writ petition.
2. The present writ petition was disposed of vide judgment dated 29th October, 2021, whereby Justice (Retd.) Rajiv Sahai Endlaw was appointed as the Supervising Guardian along with a Guardianship Committee to take care of Mr. DMP and his financial affairs. Subsequently, on 6th January, 2022, this Court was informed of Mr. DMP's demise on 27th December, 2021. Various disputes between the family members had also been cited on the said date and there were allegations of utilization of Mr. DMP's assets by the contesting Respondents. Accordingly, vide order dated 6th January 2022, Justice (Retd.) Rajiv Sahai Endlaw was appointed as the Sole Guardian of Mr. DMP and the Guardianship Committee was disbanded. Various directions were issued vide the said order. The same are as under:
"22. Considering the fact that this Court had appointed the Guardianship Committee and Supervising Guardian vide its previous order dated 29th October, 2021, in order to safeguard the movable and immovable assets of Mr. DMP, considering his demise and the continuous disputes between the family members brought to the notice of this Court today, it is clear that the Guardianship Committee cannot effectively function. Moreover, since Mr. DMP has passed away, the members of the Guardianship Signature Not Verified W.P.(C) 1271/2020 Page 2 of 10 Digitally Signed By:DEVANSHU JOSHI Signing Date:14.07.2022 15:43:35 Committee may possibly also have claims in the estate of Mr. DMP and would be conflicted in taking decisions. There is also a need to safeguard and secure the assets so that the same, which run into thousands of crores, are not frittered away or misused in any manner. In view of the same, the following directions are issued:
(i) In view of the fact that Mr. DMP is no more, the Guardianship Committee shall stand disbanded and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw (Retd.), shall act as the Sole Guardian for the estate and all assets of Mr. DMP henceforth. He shall exercise the same powers mutatis mutandis, as those of the Supervising Guardian and the Guardianship Committee, in terms of order dated 29th October, 2021. Mr. T.R. Narayanan and Mr. Shrinath Banerjee, Personal Assistants of Mr. DMP, and all parties, shall now proceed strictly in accordance with the instructions given by the Sole Guardian in respect of the assets of Mr. DMP.
(ii) A report shall be placed before this Court, by Justice Endlaw (Retd.), within a period of two weeks, in respect of the following aspects:
(a) Whether the various directions concerning Mr. DMP and his assets, passed by this Court have been complied with or not in terms of the Court's earlier orders and the directions given by him?
(b) The minutes of proceedings containing the directions issued by him from time to time shall be placed on record along with the report.
(c) Current status of the movable and immovable assets of Mr. DMP, including his bank accounts, fixed deposits, shares and any other investments.
(d) Any further documents/actions which may Signature Not Verified W.P.(C) 1271/2020 Page 3 of 10 Digitally Signed By:DEVANSHU JOSHI Signing Date:14.07.2022 15:43:35 be required in order to safeguard the moveable and immovable assets of Mr. DMP.
(iii) Since the probate of the alleged Will of Mr. DMP has now been filed and there is a need to secure all the moveable and immoveable assets of Mr. DMP, the status quo order passed previously shall continue. No withdrawals/transfers shall be made from any of the bank accounts of Mr. DMP, including the fixed deposit accounts and other investments/holdings of Mr. DMP, held solely by him or in a joint account with any other person.
However, the inward remittance into these accounts shall continue as before, including the interest accrued on the various deposits, income from investments or any other sources, dividends received from various companies, etc. Upon such remittances being made or received into these accounts, the concerned parties/banks shall give an intimation to the Sole Guardian about the same.
(iv) The status quo order which was earlier granted in respect of the immovable properties of Mr. DMP, on 4th June, 2021, shall continue. No party shall take any action to create any third-party interest in the said properties/assets or diminish the same in any manner. The said order was passed in the following terms:
"6. There are two accounts of the DMP, having substantial amounts, in which Ms. Uma Devi is stated to be a joint account holder and a co-signatory. On a query from the Court as to since when Mrs. Uma Devi is a joint account holder Mr. Abhinav Rao, ld. counsel has fairly submitted to the Court that she has been a joint account holder since November 2019. The Court notes that by November 2019, the DMP had already been detected with `fronto- temporal Signature Not Verified W.P.(C) 1271/2020 Page 4 of 10 Digitally Signed By:DEVANSHU JOSHI Signing Date:14.07.2022 15:43:35 dementia', in writ proceedings before the Ld. Division Bench of this Court being W.P.(CRL) 2255/2019 R.S. v. State & Ors as noted in the judgment dated 20th September, 2019.
7. In this background, since the DMP's assets (movable and immovable) are substantial and run into thousands of crores, without listing out the same, it is deemed appropriate to accept the voluntary statement made by Ms. Kanchana Rai and Ms. Uma Devi in reply to the application being CM 4396/2020 where it is stated as under:
"That, in view of the fact that the answering Respondent and the Respondent No.5 have voluntarily offered to maintain status-quo till the disposal of the present writ petition, the present Application seeking maintaining of status-quo of DMPs property has become infructuous."
Thus, it is directed that status quo shall be maintained in respect of all moveable and immoveable assets of the DMP by both Mrs. Uma Devi and Ms. Kanchana Rai/her family.
...
17. In so far as the DMP's bank accounts are concerned, the current position is that he is suffering from dementia and is unable to operate his own bank accounts. From the submissions made, it appears that Ms. Uma Devi and the Secretary of the DMP are operating his accounts or spending therefrom. Accordingly, the status quo, as volunteered above, shall apply to all the bank accounts of the DMP. If any amounts are withdrawn, spent or transferred from the Signature Not Verified W.P.(C) 1271/2020 Page 5 of 10 Digitally Signed By:DEVANSHU JOSHI Signing Date:14.07.2022 15:43:35 accounts of the DMP for living needs and other expenses, a statement of such amounts and expenses incurred every month along with the bank statements of the bank accounts of the DMP shall be filed, for the perusal of the Court in a sealed cover."
The above direction to maintain status quo shall now be binding upon all the parties, including Mr. US and his family who has been heard as an Intervenor, in this petition. They shall also not permit any third party to deal with the estate of Mr. DMP in any manner whatsoever, without prior permission of the Sole Guardian.
(v) Any payments which are to be made to any authorities including the tax authorities, other governmental bodies, or other expenditure including the residence expenditure, or the expenditure of Mrs. SD's residence, or approved expenditure by Justice Endlaw (Retd.), including for conduct of all final rites as per customs and traditions, shall be made only after the prior approval of the Sole Guardian.
(vi) All banks, financial institutions, companies and other authorities shall ensure strict compliance of today's directions. No amounts/assets shall be released to/transferred by any of the parties or any third party, without the prior approval of the Sole Guardian. Similarly, no account of Mr. DMP shall be permitted to be operated by any persons, without the prior approval of the Sole Guardian, which is to be obtained in respect of each such transaction.
(vii) The Sole guardian may issue directions to any person to ensure compliance of these directions.
(viii) This Court also notes that the remuneration of Justice Endlaw (Retd.) had been fixed in terms of the order dated 8th September, 2021, confirmed by the order dated 29th October, 2021 in the following Signature Not Verified W.P.(C) 1271/2020 Page 6 of 10 Digitally Signed By:DEVANSHU JOSHI Signing Date:14.07.2022 15:43:35 terms:
"274. Remuneration of the Supervising Guardian - Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw (Retd.) is fixed in terms of order dated 8th September, 2021 in the following terms:
"iii) The interim guardian shall be paid an honorarium of Rs.3 lakhs per month exclusive of secretarial, travelling and other expenses which shall be borne from the DMP's accounts.
iv) The interim guardian may appoint a Manager to assist him in carrying out his functions and also fix a reasonable remuneration of the said Manager."
23. Considering the quantum of work and the nature of the communications and the situations that the Sole Guardian is required to deal with, the remuneration of the Sole Guardian is increased to Rs.5 lakhs per month exclusive of secretarial, travelling and other expenses which shall be borne from Mr. DMP's estate"
3. The present application being CM APPL. 697/2022, had been filed alleging various violations of the directions issued by the ld. (then) Supervising Guardian and a reply had been directed to be filed by this Court vide order dated 6th January, 2022. However, today it is submitted by all the parties that the following proceedings have been filed and are pending between the parties:
(i) TEST CASE 1/2022 titled Kanchana Rai v. State of NCT of Delhi & Ors., the subject matter of which is the purported execution of the Will of Mr. DMP.
(ii) CS(OS) 203/2022 titled Smt Satula Devi v. Rajeev Sharma & Ors.
(iii) CONT. CAS. 693/2022 titled Mr. Ranjit Sharma v. Kanchana Rai & Ors.Signature Not Verified W.P.(C) 1271/2020 Page 7 of 10 Digitally Signed By:DEVANSHU JOSHI Signing Date:14.07.2022 15:43:35
(iv) LPA No. 209/2021 titled Smt Uma Devi v. Satula Devi & Ors.
(v) LPA No. 219/2021 titled Smt Kanchana Rai v. Satula Devi & Ors.
(vi) LPA No. 221/2021 titled Uma Devi v. Satula Devi & Ors.
(vii) LPA No. 223/2021 titled Smt Uma Devi v. Satula Devi & Ors.
(viii) LPA No. 224/2021 titled Smt Uma Devi v. Satula Devi & Ors.
(ix) LPA No. 429/2021 titled Uma Devi v. Satula Devi & Ors.
(x) LPA No. 430/2021 titled Kanchana Rai v. Satula Devi & Ors.
(xi) LPA No. 432/2021 titled Umesh Sharma v. Satula Devi & Ors.
(xii) LPA No. 475/2021 titled Satula Devi v. Umesh Sharma & Ors.
(xiii) LPA No. 52/2022 titled Kanchana Rai v. Satula Devi & Ors.
4. Since the present writ petition has already been disposed of and the application being CM APPL. 697/2022 which has been moved is in respect of allegations raised qua the directions issued by the (then) Supervising Guardian and qua orders of this Court, it is deemed appropriate to dispose of the present application with the direction that if any violations of orders passed by this Court or directions issued by the ld. (then) Supervising/ (now) Sole Guardian are alleged, the same may be agitated by the parties, seeking appropriate remedies in accordance with law. All the directions from the order dated 6th January, 2022 above, as also the directions issued by Justice (Retd.) Rajiv Sahai Endlaw from time to time shall continue and shall now be subject to further orders in any of the above proceedings.
5. In so far as CM APPL. 9891/2022 is concerned, the said application has been filed informing the Court that the Petitioner-Mrs. Satula Devi has, unfortunately, passed away on 12th June, 2022 and the present application seeks transposing of her two sons and some other legal heirs of the Petitioner, as Petitioners in the present petition. Since in this writ petition all Signature Not Verified W.P.(C) 1271/2020 Page 8 of 10 Digitally Signed By:DEVANSHU JOSHI Signing Date:14.07.2022 15:43:35 the children of Mrs. Satula Devi are already Respondents before this Court, and the writ petition itself has been disposed of, this Court takes on record the fact that Mrs. Satula Devi has passed away. The application being CM APPL. 697/2022, which was pending in the present petition and in which notice was issued is also being disposed of as above. Thus, this Court is of the opinion that no further orders need to be passed transposing any of the parties as Petitioner(s) in the present case. Accordingly, CM APPL. 9891/2022 is disposed of. It is made clear that the contentions of all parties are left open.
6. At this stage, counsels for the parties have made some submissions regarding the continued supervision of Mr. DMP's affairs by the Sole Guardian.
7. Mr. Vikas Singh, ld. Sr. Counsel for the Petitioner, relies upon Section 41(4) of the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890 (hereinafter "GWA") to argue that even upon the demise of the ward, till the report of the guardian is received by the Court, the guardian need not be discharged.
8. Mr. Sandeep Sethi, ld. Sr. Counsel for Mr. US, submits that the appointment made by the Court of the Sole Guardian was not under the GWA, therefore the same cannot apply in this situation. He further submits that Section 41(4) of the GWA no longer has any applicability, in view of the fact that the report has been submitted by the Sole Guardian.
9. Upon being queried by the Court, both counsels have submitted that some proceedings are still continuing before the Sole Guardian and there are certain orders that have been reserved by Justice Endlaw (Retd). This Court is clearly of the view that Mr. DMP and his wife Mrs. Satula Devi having passed away, all the legal heirs are embroiled in a succession battle over Signature Not Verified W.P.(C) 1271/2020 Page 9 of 10 Digitally Signed By:DEVANSHU JOSHI Signing Date:14.07.2022 15:43:35 assets worth thousands of crores. Under such circumstances if the Sole Guardian is discharged or any of the above directions are modified, there is every likelihood that the assets may be frittered away by one faction or the other. Thus, all the above directions shall continue to operate and the Sole Guardian shall continue to function, until discharged by a competent Court. The terms and remuneration of the Sole Guardian shall be as are prevalent today. Accordingly, in the spirit of the order dated 6th January, 2022, and safeguarding all the movable and immovable assets of Mr. DMP which run into several thousand crores of rupees, the Sole Guardian shall continue to remain the Sole Guardian, until and unless his authority is either modified or cancelled by Court of competent jurisdiction in any of the proceedings mentioned above. In this regard, detailed directions which were issued vide order dated 6th January, 2022, regarding the Sole Guardian and safeguarding of Mr. DMP's assets - as extracted above- shall also continue until and unless they are modified by any Court of competent jurisdiction.
10. Both the applications are disposed of. The present writ petition need not be listed further.
11. The digitally signed copy of this order, duly uploaded on the official website of the Delhi High Court, www.delhihighcourt.nic.in, shall be treated as the certified copy of the order for the purpose of ensuring compliance. No physical copy of orders shall be insisted by any authority/entity or litigant.
PRATHIBA M. SINGH JUDGE JULY 11, 2022/dj/ms Signature Not Verified W.P.(C) 1271/2020 Page 10 of 10 Digitally Signed By:DEVANSHU JOSHI Signing Date:14.07.2022 15:43:35