Final Order 5

Order Details: COPY OF JUDGMENT
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IN THE COURT OF RUPINDER SINGH DHIMAN, ACJ/CCJ/ARC,
NEW DELHI DISTRICT, PATIALA HOUSE COURTS, NEW
DELHI
Under Section : 372 of The Indian Succession Act,
1925
SUCC No. : 91/25
1. Mrs. Manju Saraogi
d/o late Mrs. Sharbati Devi Jhalani
E-23, East Marg
C-Block, Vasant Vihar
Delhi-110057
2. Sandeep Jhalani
s/o late Smt. Sharbati Devi Jhalani
106, Sunder Nagar
Mathura Road,
New Delhi-110003
...PETITIONERS
VERSUS
1. State (Govt. of NCT of Delhi)
Through SDM concerned
2. Eicher Motors Ltd.
(Through its Directors)
Office No. 1111, 11th Floor,
Ashoka Estate, Plot No.24,
Barakhamba Road, Connaught Place
New Delhi, Delhi-110001
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Also At:-
Sri Atul Sharma (Company Secretary)
Eicher Motors Limited
#96, Sector 32
Gurugram-122001
Haryana
Also At:-
MUFG Intime India Private Limited
(Through its Directors)
(RTA of Eicher Motors Ltd.)
Noble Heights, Plot No. NH-2, C-1 Block, LSC,
Near Savitri Market, Janakpuri,
New Delhi-110058
Also At:-
MUFG Intime India Private Limited
(Through its Directors)
(RTA of Eicher Motors Ltd)
C-101, PT Floor, 247 Park,
Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg,
Vikhroli (West), Mumbai,
Maharashtra, 400083
3. The Delhi Safe Deposit Co. Ltd.
(Through its General Manager)
86, Janpath, Connought Place
New Delhi-110001
...RESPONDENTS
Date of Institution : 25.10.2025
Final arguments heard on : 27.03.2026
Judgment pronounced on : 16.04.2026
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Petition under section 372 of The Indian Succession Act, 1925 for
grant of succession certificate in respect of the debts & securities of
deceased Sharbati Devi Jhalani.
JUDGMENT
1. The present petition has been filed by the petitioner for grant
of succession certificate under section 372 of The Indian Succession
Act, 1925 (hereinafter referred to as the “Act”), in respect of debts and
securities of deceased Sharbati Devi Jhalani (hereinafter referred to as
the “deceased”).
2. It is the case of the petitioners that deceased Sharbati Devi
Jhalani was their mother and they are the sole surviving legal heirs of
the deceased. It is further averred that the deceased was having shares
of M/s Eicher Motors and for the receipt of said shares, succession
certificate is required. Hence, the present petition.
3. Vide order dated 25.10.2025, notice of the succession petition
was issued to the respondents. Further, besides service of notice of
petition upon respondents, this Court also directed for publication of
notice of succession petition in the daily newspapers for inviting
objections, if any, from general public qua the debts/securities of
deceased Sharbati Devi Jhalani. Despite publication, no objections to
the grant of succession certificate was received from general public.
Further, surviving member certificate was filed on behalf of
respondent no.1/RW-1 which is Ex. RW-1/1 stating that the
petitioners are the sole surviving heirs of the deceased. Also,
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petitioner no.1 gave separate statement on 27.03.2026 averring that
she has no objection if the succession certificate is granted in favour
of the petitioner no.2.
4. Petitioners also summoned record through RW-2 with respect
to locker no.1786D of Delhi Safe Deposit Company Ltd which is Ex.
RW2/2. However, the relief qua the said locker was not pressed. Also,
report was received from respondent no.2 that deceased Sharbati Devi
Jhalani was having 1000 shares of M/s Eicher Motors Limited with
folio no. 0028284.
5. Petitioner no.2 also examined himself as PW-1 and tendered
his evidence by way of affidavit which is Ex.PW1/X. He also relied
upon the following documents:
i) – Ex.PW1/A (OSR) is my driving license;
ii) – Ex.PW1/B (OSR) is death certificate of my father
Sh. Krishan Kumar Jhalani;
iii) – Ex.PW1/C (OSR) is death certificate of deceased/my
mother Smt. Sharbati Devi Jhalani;
iv) – Ex.PW1/D (OSR) is share certificate of M/s Eicher
Motor Ltd;
v) – Ex.PW1/E (OSR) is Delhi Save Deposit Letter;
6. No other witness was examined by the petitioner. Hence, on the
basis of evidence of the petitioner as well as the summoned record,
succession certificate is prayed with respect to the following
debts/securities in the name of deceased Sharbati Devi Jhalani:
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S. NO. Particulars Amount
1. Shares of M/s Eicher
Motors Ltd having folio no.
0028284
Rs. 75,22,000/-
7. I have heard the final arguments advanced by learned Counsel
for the petitioner and carefully perused the record.
8. However 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.'
9. Aforesaid provision, therefore, says that succession certificate
has to be given by the Court on the basis of “
prima facie 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 /
prima facie 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.
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10. In the present case, petitioners have filed the death certificate of
deceased Sharbati Devi Jhalani which is Ex. PW1/C. Further, the
petitioners have also filed the death certificate of their father which is
Ex. PW1/D. Moreover, as per the report of SDM concerned,
petitioners are the sole surviving members of the deceased Sharbati
Devi Jhalani. Petitioner no.1 has already given her no objection for the
grant of succession certificate in favour of the petitioner no.2.
Therefore, petitioner no.2, being the son of the deceased Sharbati Devi
Jhalani is the class-I legal heir of deceased and prima facie, is entitled
to the debts/securities of the deceased Sharbati Devi Jhalani.
Accordingly, in view of above discussion, I find that there is no
objection to the grant of succession certificate in favour of petitioner
no.2 for receiving the aforesaid debts/securities held in the name of
deceased Sharbati Devi Jhalani, as mentioned in Para 6 of this
Judgment.
11. 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. However, recently, after referring to various precedents,
Hon’ble Delhi High Court laid down the following principles in
Arvind nanda vs State CM(M) 265/2020 and CM APPL. 7880/2020 dt
28.02.2020:
(1) The imposition of a condition for furnishing an
indemnity/security is at the discretion of the Court.
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(2) Whenever the Court is of the opinion that a
condition is required to be imposed due to any debts
and the fact that there is a possibility of other claimants
raising claims, the condition may be imposed.
(3) In every case involving the grant of a succession
certificate, a mechanical approach of imposing a
condition for furnishing the surety/security and
insisting on the indemnity bond is not required.
(4) When an exemption from filing any surety is
sought, the Court has to consider the entire conspectus
and exercise its discretion depending on the facts of
each case, in accordance with law.
(5) As held by the ld. Division Bench of this Court in
Rajesh Kumar Sharma (supra), the imposition of a
condition is not mandatory.
12. Hence, in view of the above legal position, no purpose would
be served by imposition of condition of surety. Consequently, the
present petition is allowed and succession certificate be issued to
petitioner no.2 for receiving the aforesaid debts/securities of the
deceased Sharbati Devi Jhalani as mentioned in para 6, on filing of
indemnity bond in the sum of Rs. 75,22,000/- and requisite Court Fees
in terms of Article 12, Schedule I of the Court Fee Act, 1870 as
applicable to Delhi. Petition is accordingly, disposed of.
13. File be consigned to Record Room after due compliance.
Announced in the open
court today i.e. 16.04.2026
RUPINDER SINGH DHIMAN
ACJ-CCJ-ARC/NDD, PHC New
Delhi: 16.04.2026
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