Delhi District Court
Shri Krishna Shriram vs ) The State on 9 December, 2021
IN THE COURT OF PREETI PAREWA, ACJ/ARC/CCJ
NEW DELHI DISTRICT, PATIALA HOUSE COURTS, NEW DELHI
SUCCESSION CASE NO. 60 / 2021
Shri Krishna Shriram,
S/o Late Shri Siddharth Shriram,
R/o D46, Malcha Marg, Chanakya Puri,
New Delhi - 110021. ... Petitioner
Versus
1) The State
2) Ms. Chhaya Shriram
D/o Late Shri Siddharth Shriram,
R/o D46, Malcha Marg, Chanakya Puri,
New Delhi - 110021.
3) Mrs. Roula Shriram
W/o Late Shri Siddharth Shriram,
R/o D46, Malcha Marg, Chanakya Puri,
New Delhi - 110021. ... Respondents
PETITION FOR GRANT OF SUCCESSION CERTIFICATE
UNDER SECTION 372 OF THE INDIAN SUCCESSION ACT, 1925
Date of institution of the petition : 15.07.2021
Date on which judgment was reserved : 03.12.2021
Date of pronouncement of judgment : 09.12.2021
Final Judgment : Allowed.
JUDGMENT
1. Petitioner has applied for Succession Certificate under Section 372 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 in respect of debts & securities of Late Shri Siddharth Shriram. The details of the same are as follows :
SC No. 60/2021 Krishna Shriram Vs. State & Ors. Page No.1 of 8 A) SHARES :
S. No. Name of Company ISIN / Folio Number Number of Shares 1. Mawana Food Pvt Ltd INE07R801018 1
2. Mawana Sugar Ltd. INE636A01039 2,36,17,959
3. Mawana Sugar Ltd. INE636A01039 10,00,000
4. Lemon Tree Hotels Ltd INE970X01018 7,56,955
5. Honda India Power Products Ltd. INE634A01018 50 6. Shriram Pistons & Rings Ltd. 102 48 7. DCM Hyundai Ltd. 190 250 8. Rathi Alloyed & Steel Ltd. RA S1867 300 9. Organic Chemoils Ltd. OC S11324 300
10. Contents Services & Publishing Ltd. 4 27,778 11. V. V. Sarvotech Pvt Ltd. 004 50
12. Dharm Nagari Cooperative Farming Society - -
B) LOAN, ADVANCES & SECURITY
S. No. Name of Debtor Amount Type
1. Mrs. Roula Shriram (Respondent No.3) Rs.63,58,096/ Loan
2. A B Stud Thoroghbred Pvt Ltd. Rs.10,50,000/ Advance
3. India International Centre Rs.10,000/ Advance
4. Standard Chartered Bank (Card Division) Rs.1,78,155/ Advance
5. Classic Golf Resort Rs.3,15,000/ Security
C) BANK ACCOUNT :
S. Bank Details Account Details
No.
1. Standard Chartered Bank, 43, Main Market, Current Account
Defence Colony, New Delhi No.52605003617
2. It is the case of the petitioner that he, respondent no.2 and respondent no.3 are the son, daughter and wife respectively of the deceased Late Shri Siddharth Shriram who died intestate on 17.05.2021. That, respondent no.2 and respondent no.3 have no objection if the succession certificate is issued in favour of the petitioner. It is accordingly prayed that succession certificate be issued in favour of the petitioner.
SC No. 60/2021 Krishna Shriram Vs. State & Ors. Page No.2 of 8
3. The succession petition was filed in this Court on 15.07.2021.
Subsequently, besides service of notice of petition upon respondents, this Court also directed for publication of notice of succession petition in the daily newspapers and consequently, the publication was made in newspapers "The Statesman" dated 17.08.2021 and "Veer Arjun" dated 14.08.2021 for inviting objections, if any, from general public. Despite publication in the aforesaid newspapers, no objection for grant of succession certificate in favour of petitioner has been received from general public so far.
4. Notice was also issued to concerned SDM / Executive Magistrate confirming the address of the petitioner and list of survivors of deceased and it has been reported by the SDM concerned that the petitioner, respondent no.2 and respondent no.3 are the surviving members of deceased Late Sh. Siddharth Shriram. Copy of surviving member certificate was also annexed with the report.
5. During the proceedings held on 09.09.2021 & 28.09.2021, learned counsel for petitioner has prayed for appointment of Local Commissioner for the purpose of recording of testimony of the petitioner's witnesses and accordingly, Advocate Ms. Suman Kaintura, Enrollment No. D/942/10, has been appointed as Local Commissioner in the present matter for recording of testimony of the petitioner's witnesses, as per rules.
6. During the proceedings held on 28.09.2021 & 23.10.2021, Advocate Ms. Suman Kaintura, Ld. Local Commissioner has filed her reports along with statements of the petitioner's witnesses. As per reports of the learned Local Commissioner, petitioner Shri Krishna Shriram has been examined as PW1 by way of affidavit Ex.PW1/A and relied upon the documents SC No. 60/2021 Krishna Shriram Vs. State & Ors. Page No.3 of 8 Ex.PW1/1 to Ex.PW1/9. Further, PW2 Shashank Prabhakar, Senior Legal Manager of Lemon Tree, PW3 Sh. Ashok Kumar Shukla, CS (Mawana Sugar Limited), PW4 Ms. Atreyee Das, CS (Mawana Foods Pvt Ltd), PW5 Mr. Ranjeet Sinha, Executive IL & FS Securities Services Limited, PW6 Ms. Alka Ojha, Asst. CS of Honda India Power Products Limited, PW7 Sh. Umesh Chandra Anand, MD of M/s Content Services and Publishing Pvt Ltd, PW8 Sh. Vijay Singh Rana, Asst. Manager Legal of Shri Ram Pistons and Rings Limited, PW9 Sh. Pawan Kumar Lakhotia, AR of DCM Hundai Limited, PW10 Santosh Kumar, AR of V. V. Servotech Pvt Ltd, PW11 Mr. Apurba Kumar Bagchi, AR of Classic Golf & Country Club, PW12 Mr. Koushik Goswami, Manager, Standard Chartered Bank, DLF Cyber City Branch and PW13 Sh. Prashant Srivastava, AR of A. B. Stud Thoroughbred Pvt Ltd. have been examined and documents were exhibited. They were not crossexamined and their testimonies remain unrebutted.
7. During the proceedings held on 23.10.2021, learned counsel for petitioner submits that the witnesses at serial no. 9 (concerned official of Rathi Alloy and Steel Limited); serial no.10 (concerned official of Organic Chemoils Limited); & serial no.13 (concerned official of Dharam Nagri Cooperative Society) of the list of petitioner's witnesses may be dropped and further PE may be closed. Accordingly, the abovementioned witnesses are dropped and further PE was closed vide order dated 23.10.2021.
8. During the proceedings held on 22.11.2021, learned counsel for petitioner has filed "Statement through an Affidavit" stating that as per instructions of the petitioner, he drop / not pressed for the claim against the respondent no.3 i.e. a sum of Rs.63,58,096/ given to her as loan for purchasing shares of Lemon Tree Hotels Ltd. and also a claim of Rs.10,000/ SC No. 60/2021 Krishna Shriram Vs. State & Ors. Page No.4 of 8 given to India International Centre as Advance. It is further stated that the petitioner have not brought any evidence on record to prove the abovesaid claims.
9. I have heard the final arguments advanced by learned Counsel for the petitioner and carefully perused the record.
10. Perusal of testimony of PW5 Mr. Ranjeet Sinha, Executive IL & FS Securities Services Limited shows that as per records Ex.PW5/2, the total value of the shares holds by Late Shri Siddharth Shriram in Honda India Power Products Limited, Mawana Foods Pvt Ltd, Mawana Sugars Ltd., and Lemon Tree Hotels Limited is Rs.2,02,37,09,272/.
Further, PW7 Sh. Umesh Chandra Anand deposed that as per records Ex.PW7/2 (Colly), the deceased is holding 27,778 shares in M/s Content Services & Publishing Private Limited as on 04.10.2021 and the value of the same at the time of purchase was Rs.2,00,00,160/.
Further, PW8 Shri Vijay Singh Rana deposed that as records Ex.PW8/2, the deceased is holding 48 equity shares in the Shriram Pistons & Rings Ltd (Folio No.102) as on 05.10.2021 and the value of the same is Rs.46,000/ (Approx).
Further PW9 Shri Pawan Kumar Lakhotia deposed that as records Ex.PW9/1, the deceased is holding 250 equity shares in the DCM Hyundai Limited as on 04.10.2021 and the value of the same is Rs.2,500/.
Further, PW10 Mr. Santosh Kumar deposed that as per record Ex.PW10/2, the deceased is holding 50 equity shares in the V. V. Servotech Pvt Ltd as on 05.10.2021 and the value of the same is Rs.500/ (Approx).
Further, PW11 Mr. Apurba Kumar Bagchi, AR of Classic Golf & Country Club deposed that as per company records, Rs.3,15,000/ is having as SC No. 60/2021 Krishna Shriram Vs. State & Ors. Page No.5 of 8 security in the company by Late Shri Siddharth Shriram.
Further, PW12 Shri Koushik Goswami, Manager, Standard Chartered Branch deposed that as per statement Ex.PW12/2, balance amount in current account bearing number 52605003617 of the name of deceased is Rs.28,11,383/. He also proved the statements of credit card bearing no. no.4028748831050186 Ex.PW12/2 (Colly) of the deceased, as per which an amount of Rs.1,64,192.21 is outstanding as on 25.07.2021. The outstanding of credit card does not come withing the purview of debts / securities.
Further, PW13 Sh. Prashant Srivastava, AR of A. B. Stud Thoroughbred Pvt Ltd deposed that as per company records Ex.PW13/2 (Ledger account w.e.f. 01.04.2017 to 31.03.2018), there is a credit balance of Rs.82,597/ in the account of deceased.
11. No conclusive evidence has been led by the petitioner with respect of his claim qua aforesaid shares in Rathi Alloy and Steel Limited, Organic Chemoils Limited and Dharam Nagri Cooperative Society. During the proceedings held on 23.10.2021, at the request of learned counsel for petitioner, the concerned witnesses, cited in the list of petitioner's witnesses, in respect of Rathi Alloy and Steel Limited, Organic Chemoils Limited and Dharam Nagri Cooperative Society were dropped and and further PE was closed vide order dated 23.10.2021.
12. Section 373 subsection (3) of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 provides: 'If the Judge cannot decide the right to the certificate without determining questions of law or fact which seem to be too intricate and difficult for determination in a summary proceedings, he may nevertheless grant a certificate to the petitioner if he appears to be the person having prima facie the best title thereto.' SC No. 60/2021 Krishna Shriram Vs. State & Ors. Page No.6 of 8
13. Aforesaid provision, therefore, says that succession certificate has to be given by the Court on the basis of "primafacie best title". Petitioner has to show that he has best title over the debts & Securities in question. Onus of proving the same therefore is not on the same platform as that of criminal law or civil law, it is less than that. So much, so even if there is a dispute with regard to the right of petitioner claiming succession certificate, then also it is the broad / primafacie title which has to be seen. This is precisely for the reason the as the rights of the parties are not to be determined by the Court issuing the succession certificate.
14. Further, perusal of Section 375 of Indian Succession Act shows that the imposition of a condition of security / surety / indemnity bond is in order to indemnify person (s) or safeguard the interest of such persons who may be entitled to the whole or any part of the debt and security.
15. Respondents / general public / legal representatives of deceased in question did not raise any objection pertaining to present application, despite publication in newspapers. As per report of concerned SDM as well as Surviving Member Certificate, petitioner, respondent no.2 and respondent no.3 are the legal survivors of the deceased Late Shri Siddharth Shriram.
16. In view of these facts and reasons, this Court finds that there is no objection to the grant of succession certificate in favour of petitioner Shri Krishna Shriram (ClassI Legal Heir of deceased) for receiving following debt/securities of Late Shri Siddharth Shriram :
A) SHARES : S. No. Name of Company ISIN / Folio Number Number of Shares 1. Mawana Food Pvt Ltd INE07R801018 1 2. Mawana Sugar Ltd. INE636A01039 2,36,17,959 SC No. 60/2021 Krishna Shriram Vs. State & Ors. Page No.7 of 8 3. Mawana Sugar Ltd. INE636A01039 10,00,000 4. Lemon Tree Hotels Ltd INE970X01018 7,56,955 5. Honda India Power Products Ltd. INE634A01018 50 6. Shriram Pistons & Rings Ltd. 102 48 7. DCM Hyundai Ltd. 190 250 8. Contents Services & Publishing Ltd. 4 27,778 9. V. V. Sarvotech Pvt Ltd. 004 50 B) LOAN, ADVANCES & SECURITY S. No. Name of Debtor Type 1. A B Stud Thoroghbred Pvt Ltd. Advance 2. Classic Golf Resort Security C) BANK ACCOUNT : S. Bank Details Account Details No. 1. Standard Chartered Bank, 43, Main Market, Current Account Defence Colony, New Delhi No.52605003617
17. Consequently, the present petition is allowed and succession certificate be issued to petitioner Shri Krishna Shriram for receiving the aforesaid securities (upto date amount) on filing of requisite Court Fees in terms of Article 12, Schedule I of the Court Fee Act 1870 as applicable to Delhi along with an indemnity bond in a sum of Rs.204,69,67,412/. Since the petitioner is the ClassI Legal Heir of the deceased and respondent no.2 as well as respondent no.3 have already given their respective 'no objection affidavit', the condition of furnishing surety bond is waived in the present case.
18. File be consigned to Record Room after due compliance.
Announced in the open Court (PREETI PAREWA) today i.e. 09th Day of ACJ/CCJ/ARC, NDD, PHC December, 2021 NEW DELHI : 09.12.2021 SC No. 60/2021 Krishna Shriram Vs. State & Ors. Page No.8 of 8