Delhi District Court
Sonu vs State [G.N.C.T. Of Delhi on 9 December, 2021
IN THE COURT OF MS. SNIGDHA SARVARIA
ACJ-cum-CCJ-cum-ARC, SHAHDARA
KARKARDOOMA COURTS, DELHI
SC No. 22/2017
1 Sonu
S/o late Sh. Prakash Chand & late Smt. Sushama Devi
R/o E-298, MCD Flats, Delhi-110093
2 Km. Soniya
S/o late Sh. Prakash Chand & late Smt. Sushama Devi
R/o E-298, MCD Flats, Delhi-110093 ........Petitioners
Versus
1 State [G.N.C.T. of Delhi]
Through the Sub Divisional Magistrate
Shahdara, Bunkar Colony,
Near Gagan Cinema, Nand Nagri
Delhi-110093
2 Medical Superintendent
Civil Hospital, Rewari, Haryana
3 Government of Haryana State,
Through Head Office of Auditor-General,
Lekha Bhawan, Plot No. 4, Sector 33-B,
Chandigarh
4 State Bank of India,
Through its Branch Manager,
Circular Road Branch,
Rewari, Haryana
5 State Bank of India,
[Before Merger State Bank of Indore]
Through its Branch Manager,
Opposite Jain Senior Secondary School Branch,
Rewari, Haryana ......Respondents
PETITION FOR GRANT OF SUCCESSION CERTIFICATE UNDER SECTION
372 OF THE INDIAN SUCCESSION ACT, 1925
SC No. 22/2017 Sonu & anr. Vs. State & ors. 1 of 6
1. Date of Institution of Petition : 14.03.2017
2. Date of Judgment : 09.12.2021
3. Decision : Petition Allowed
JUDGMENT
1. Vide this Judgment, this Court shall dispose-off petition filed by petitioners for grant of succession certificate in their favour in respect of debts and securities i.e. (a) Provident Fund No. HR/MED-53474 having Rs.1,27,282/-, (b) GIS saving having Rs.1535/-, (c) GIS insurance having Rs.15,000/-, (d) Leave Encashment having Rs.68,150/-, (e) GPF Bank A/c No. MED/53474 having Rs.31,665/- and two bank accounts i.e. S.B. Bank Account No. 30824044971 with State Bank of India (respondent no. 4), Circular Road Branch, Rewari, Haryana having Rs.57,655/- and S.B. Bank Account No. 53033762128, State Bank of India, [Before Merger State Bank of Indore] (respondent no. 5), Opposite Jain Senior Secondary School Branch, Rewari, Haryana, all existing in the name of deceased late Smt. Sushma Devi.
2. In the petition, it is inter-alia pleaded that petitioners are the son and daughter, respectively of deceased late Smt. Sushma Devi, who expired on 25.06.2016; that apart from the petitioners, there is no surviving legal heir of the deceased; that Sh. Prakash Chand, the husband of deceased had already expired on 28.01.2003; that the deceased late Smt. Sushma Devi was ordinarily residing within the territorial jurisdiction of this Court and there is no legal impediment in the grant of succession certificate in favour of petitioner. Initially, at the time of filing of this petition, petitioner no. 2 Soniya was a minor (date of birth : 03.06.2002) and petitioner no. 1 being brother was her next friend. However, now she is no more a minor.
3. The record of Court file reflects that the notice of this petition was given to the general public by way of publication in the newspaper 'Veer Arjun' on 24.05.2017. In response to the notice, no person from the general public had come forward to offer SC No. 22/2017 Sonu & anr. Vs. State & ors. 2 of 6 any objection(s) qua grant of succession certificate to the petitioner.
4. As per written statement filed on behalf of respondent no. 3, a sum of Rs.1,27,282/- including upto date interest with respect to GPF has been given to petitioner Sonu. As per reply of respondent no. 2, they require succession certificate for safe payment to petitioners.
5. During the summary proceedings conducted as per Section 373 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925, four persons were examined; PW-1 is petitioner Sh. Sonu, RW-1 is Sh. Ashok Kumar Sharma, Naib Tehsildar, Office of SDM, Seemapuri, Delhi, RW-2 Sh. Dinesh Kumar, Clerk from the office of Medical Superintendent, Civil Hospital, Rewari, Haryana and RW-4 is Sh. R.D. Saini, Dy. Manager, State Bank of India, Branch Opposite Jain Senior Secondary School, Circular Road, Rewari, Haryana.
6. Petitioner/PW-1 Sh. Sonu filed his affidavit in evidence, which is Ex.PW1/A, wherein he reiterated the contents of his petition and relied upon documents i.e. Copy of his aadhar card Ex.PW1/1, copy of aadhar card of petitioner No. 2 (Ms. Sonia) Ex.PW1/2, copy of Identity Card of the deceased Smt. Sushma Devi Ex. PW1/3, death certificate of the deceased Smt. Sushma Devi (mother of the petitioners) Ex. PW1/4, copy of the death certificate of the deceased Sh. Prakash Chand (father of the petitioners) Ex. PW1/5, copy of the ration card of the deceased Smt. Sushma Devi Ex. PW1/6, copy of pension payment order of the deceased Smt. Sushma Devi is Ex. PW1/7, copy of the two bank account statements of the deceased Smt. Sushma Devi are Ex.PW1/8 and Ex. PW1/9 and original newspaper is Ex. PW1/10.
7. Sh. Ashok Kumar Sharma deposed that he verified that the LRs of late Smt. Sushma Devi are Sonu and Sonia. His report is Ex.RW1/B. SC No. 22/2017 Sonu & anr. Vs. State & ors. 3 of 6
8. RW-2 Sh. Dinesh Kumar who appeared on behalf of R-2 brought the official record in respect of their employee deceased late Smt. Sushma who died on 25.06.2016. He stated that as per office order, the dependents i.e. her son Sonu and her daughter Sonia have been given ex-gratia payment including GPF, group insurance and leave encashment in equal shares and now the dependents of the deceased will not get the pension/family pension. However, family compensation is being paid regularly to Sonu and Sonia. The copy of office order along with other documents are Ex.RW2/A colly. Copy of his ID proof is Ex.RW2/B.
9. RW-4 Sh. R.D. Saini deposed that as per record maintained in the bank, late Smt. Sushma Devi has left behind two savings bank accounts. The saving bank account bearing no. 30824044971 is at SBI, Circular Road, Rewari, Haryana (Branch code 0705). It has credit balance of Rs.58,220/-. The statement of account is Ex.PW4/B. The savings bank account bearing no. 53033762128 is at SBI, Opposite Jain Sr. Secondary School, Circular Road, Rewari, Haryana (Branch code 30368). It has credit balance of Rs.37,022.31/-. The statement of account of the said bank account is Ex.RW4/C.
10. During proceedings, it was stated by ld. counsel for petitioner that the relief of issuance of succession certificate qua GPF, group insurance and leave encashment i.e. 6
(a) to 6 (d) as mentioned on page 2 of the petition have already been satisfied in view of deposition of RW-2, therefore, only reliefs qua saving bank account remains pending.
11. I have heard Ld. Counsel for the petitioners and he referred to the testimonies of PW-1 Sh. Sonu and RW-1 Sh. Ashok Kumar Sharma and submitted that material on record is sufficient to conclude that petitioners are the only surviving legal heir of deceased late Smt. Sushma Devi; that testimony of RW-4 Sh. R.D. Saini and documents filed by him establish that late Smt. Sushma Devi has left behind two SC No. 22/2017 Sonu & anr. Vs. State & ors. 4 of 6 savings bank accounts i.e. saving bank account bearing no. 30824044971, SBI, Circular Road, Rewari, Haryana (Branch code 0705) having credit balance of Rs.58,220/- and savings bank account bearing no. 53033762128, SBI, Opposite Jain Sr. Secondary School, Circular Road, Rewari, Haryana (Branch code 30368) having credit balance of Rs.37,022.31/- and there is no impediment in grant of succession certificate in favour of petitioners. Ld. Counsel for petitioners submits that on the combined strength of aforesaid submissions, petitioners are entitled to grant of succession certificate with respect to aforesaid bank accounts, existing in the name of deceased late Smt. Sushma Devi.
12. I have heard the submissions made by Ld. Counsel for the petitioners perused the record and have gone through the relevant provisions of law.
13. The testimonies of petitioner/PW-1 and RW-1 prove that petitioner and respondent no. 2 are the known surviving legal heirs of deceased late Smt. Sushma Devi. The testimony of RW-4 Sh. R.D. Saini and documents filed by him proves that late Smt. Sushma Devi has left behind two savings bank accounts i.e. saving bank account bearing no. 30824044971, SBI, Circular Road, Rewari, Haryana (Branch code 0705) having credit balance of Rs.58,220/- and savings bank account bearing no. 53033762128, SBI, Opposite Jain Sr. Secondary School, Circular Road, Rewari, Haryana (Branch code 30368) having credit balance of Rs.37,022.31/-. No one else has come forward to oppose succession petition despite publication in newspaper.
14. In view of aforesaid, clearly the petitioners, prima facie, have best title for and there exists no impediment in grant of succession certificate in favour of petitioners. Therefore, in the facts and circumstances and material placed on record, present petition qua the grant of succession certificate in respect of the aforesaid two savings bank accounts i.e. saving bank account bearing no. 30824044971, SBI, Circular Road, Rewari, Haryana (Branch code 0705) and savings bank account bearing no.
SC No. 22/2017 Sonu & anr. Vs. State & ors. 5 of 6 53033762128, SBI, Opposite Jain Sr. Secondary School, Circular Road, Rewari, Haryana (Branch code 30368) of the deceased Smt. Sushma Devi, is hereby allowed. Accordingly, succession certificate be issued in favour of petitioners with respect to the aforesaid two savings bank accounts, upon filing of requisite court fees and indemnity bond by the petitioners, with one surety.
15. The succession certificate shall be considered only as an entitlement of the petitioners to receive the amount of aforesaid two savings bank accounts. The succession certificate shall not be considered direction as such to the concerned bank(s), to release the amount to the petitioners and the concerned bank(s) shall be competent to seek compliance of formalities, if any, to be fulfilled by the petitioners for release of the amount, as per rules. File be consigned to record room after due compliance. Digitally signed by SNIGDHA SNIGDHA SARVARIA SARVARIA Date:
2021.11.29 13:38:37 +0530 Announced in the open Court on 09.12.2021 (SNIGDHA SARVARIA) ACJ-CCJ-ARC/Shahdara, KKD/Delhi SC No. 22/2017 Sonu & anr. Vs. State & ors. 6 of 6