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TMI Blog1966 (3) TMI 93X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... sioner went to the house where the widow lived and during the course of taking the inventory, he found an unregistered will dated March 4, 1948, in the safe. Under that will substantial portion of the properties were given to the five daughters by Narayana Reddi and nothing was given to the widow. There was also some provision for certain charitable endowments and also for the maintenance of his (testator's) mother. Under the will, two executors (sons-in-law of the testator, one of whom was the husband of the plaintiff in O.S. No. 20/1953) were appointed. On the discovery of the will, the widow Ramanamma instituted O.S. No. 61/1953 in the subordinate judge's court, Nellore, for a declaration that the will was not true and genuine. The husband of the plaintiff in O.S. No. 20/1953, as one of the executors under the will, also instituted O.S. No. 75/1953 in the sub-court, Nellore, for the administration of the estate of the testator. During the pendency of these three suits, it appears, some persons tried to bring about a compromise between the parties. They succeeded in bringing the parties together and ultimately a compromise memo was filed in O.S. No. 76/1953, and a decree ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ot file any subsequent counters The main grounds urged in the writ petitions were : (i ) the petitioner is not a legal representative of the deceased, Narayana Reddi; (2) the notice in respect of the assessment year 1949-50 was invalid ; (3) even if the petitioner was assumed to be a legal representative of the deceased, Narayana Reddi, the notices in question were bad because all the legal representatives of the deceased, Narayana Reddi, were not given notice ; and (4) on going into the facts it will be seen that there is no good ground for reassessing the income of Narayana Reddi. These grounds were resisted by the income-tax authorities on the pleas that the petitioner was the legal representative of the deceased, Narayana Reddi, and that none of the grounds mentioned in the writ petitions was valid and that, therefore, the petitioner was not entitled to the relief sought Our learned brother, on the question whether the petitioner was the legal representative of the deceased, Narayana Reddi, or not, found that the petitioner was not the legal representative of Narayana Reddi. On the second point, whether the notice in respect of the assessment year 1949-50 was invalid, fou ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n whether the will was genuine or not, it may be noted that the main consideration appears to be the will. Under the will only the daughters were given a share and the widow was not given anything. One of the daughters, Sridevamma, was relying on the will and the other daughters did not come forward with any plea, either in favour or against, and the widow was challenging the will. If this will stood, the widow would not be entitled to any property, and if this will was not genuine, the daughters in turn would not be entitled to any share in the property. It follows, therefore, that there was on the one side the will and the denial by the widow on the other. Placed in those circumstances, the parties probably thought it proper not to go into that question, but divide the properties among themselves, each daughter getting a share and a substantial share being allotted to the widow also. If the will was not the main consideration before the parties, we do not understand why, after dividing the properties into six shares, they should have thought of giving a share to the deceased's mother and also creating a trust for charitable purposes. This was done because the deceased in the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ach of the daughters and the widow have since then been in possession of their respective shares without the interference of the others. All this, as stated earlier, could not have been without reference to the will. Since the daughters and the widow are in possession of the properties of the deceased as his heirs, they would, in our opinion, be the legal representatives of the deceased along with the mother and the charitable institutions within the meaning of section 2(11) of the Code of Civil Procedure. Our learned brother while, no doubt, observing that the daughters have been given a share, was influenced by the fact that there is no clear statement in the compromise decree whether the will was accepted or not, and came to the conclusion that the shares given to the daughters would not be as per the will or having regard to the terms of the will. If the division was made without reference to the will, there is no reason why they should have made a provision for the mother and for charities. In the view we are taking, we cannot agree with our learned brother that the petitioner and her sisters are not the legal representatives of the deceased, Narayana Reddi. The second poin ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ah 94, 'These words mean the representation before the court of the plenary interest of the deceased party. Sometimes that interest may be represented by a single individual, but it may also be represented by a number of persons as the case may be. But there should be a complete representation of the interests of the deceased person, whether through a single individual or through a number of persons, so that there cannot be a partial representation of that interest. In other words, the expression 'legal representative' means and includes one person as well as several persons according as they represent the whole interest of the deceased person' . To a similar effect is the view of their Lordships of the Privy Council in the case of Khiarajmal v. Bairn [1905] LR 32 IA 23 ; ILR 32 Cal 296. It should be appropriate to refer to their Lordships' observations, which are as follows : Ordinarily therefore it is necessary to implead all the legal representatives of the deceased person on the record and a few of them do not represent the whole interest of the deceased and, if all are not made parties to the suit or appeal, it results in the abatement of these pr ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ot be sufficient compliance. The contention of Shri Kondaiah, learned counsel for the department, is that the department was not aware of the fact that there were other legal representatives besides the daughters and the widow, and if the department had knowledge of this fact, these persons also would have been served with notices. We are not prepared to agree with the learned counsel, for the simple reason that the department has itself relied upon the compromise decree and from a reading of the compromise decree it would become clear that, apart from the daughters and the widow, the mother of the deceased and the charitable institution were given a share. In the face of this, the contention that the department was not aware that there are other legal representatives cannot be accepted. Admittedly, as notices have not gone to the mother of the deceased and the charitable institution represented by the trustees, the notices issued to Sulochanamma and the four sisters would not be valid. Our learned brother has also taken that view and we think rightly too. Now, the only other matter that remains to be considered is, whether the writ petitioner as a legal representative of the de ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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