Holding

The High Court was not justified in overturning the trial court's findings; the trial court's grant of the succession certificate to the appellant is affirmed.

Summary

After the death of Mahendra Narayan Sharma, his wife succeeded to his estate and later died. Virendra Kumar Tripathy applied for a succession certificate claiming to be the real brother of Mahendra, while Nirmala Devi claimed to be Mahendra's sister, asserting that their father Ram Briksh Sharma had two wives and that she was the child of the first wife, making Tripathy a step‑brother. The trial court accepted Tripathy's evidence and granted the certificate, but the Patna High Court set aside that decision, relying on letters in which Tripathy called himself "Mama" and on an unsubstantiated claim that Ram Briksh Sharma married twice. The Supreme Court held that the High Court failed to consider the appellant’s reliable evidence (A.P.W. 1‑3), that the letters did not prove a sibling relationship, and that there was no proof that Ramdaso Devi was married to Ram Briksh Sharma. Consequently, the Court restored the trial court’s order granting the succession certificate to the appellant.

Issues considered

The correctness of the High Court's assessment of the evidence regarding the familial relationship between the appellant and the deceased.
Whether letters referring to the appellant as "Mama" and to the respondent's sons as "Bhagina" establish that the respondent is the appellant's sister.
Whether there is sufficient evidence that Ram Briksh Sharma had two wives, thereby making the appellant a step‑brother of the respondent.
Whether the High Court's order should be set aside and the trial court's decision restored.

Legislation cited

Code of Civil Procedure, 1908s. 100-A

Subjects

succession certificatestep brotherevidence evaluationfamily relationshipCivil Procedure CodeSection 100-Ainheritanceprobate

Judgment

,,-7 VIRENDRA KUMAR TRIPATHY A
v.
NIRMALA DEVI AND ORS.

FEBRUARY 23, 2006

[B.P. SINGH AND AL TAMAS KABIR, JJ.] B

• _...._ Evidence:

Appreciation of evidence-By High Court-In appeal against decision
of Trial Court which had granted succession certificate in favour ofAppellant c
while rejecting the case of Respondent-Propriety of-Held, improper-since
High Court did not consider evidence adduced by Appellant which was accepted
by Trial Court-And wrongfully held in favour of Respondent only on the
basis ofcertain letters written by Appellant to sons of Respondent, even though
the Trial Court had given cogent reasons to doubt testimony of witnesses D
de_TJosing on behalf of Respondent-Hence, order of High Court set aside and
that of Trial Court restored-Succession.
~
4..
After death of one 'MN', his wife succeeded to his estate. She also
died. Subsequently, Appellant sought grant of succession certificate to the
estate claiming that he was the rea I brother of' MN'. He claimed that his E
father 'RB' had five children which included him, his brother 'MN' and
three sisters.

However, Respondent claimed that Appellant was only a step-brother
of 'MN' and that she herself was the real sister of 'MN', hence entitled to
grant of succession certificate in preference to Appellant. Respondent F
--+ claimed that 'RB' had married twice; that his first wife 'RD' gave birth
to Respondent and 'MN' while the second wife gave birth to Appellant
and three daughters.

Trial Court accepted the evidence adduced by Appellant and issued
G
succession certificate in his favour. It rejected the succession certificate
case filed by the Respondent after finding the witnesses deposing on her
i behalf to be unreliable. High Court however set aside the findings recorded
T by the Trial Court and granted succession certificate in favour of the
Respondent. Hence the present appeals.
459 H
460 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2006] 2 S.C.R.

A Allowing the appeals, the Court

HELD: I. Surprisingly the High Court did not at all consider the
evidence led by the appellant in support of his case which was accepted
by the Trial Court. The evidence of A.P.W. 1, 2 and 3 are relevant and
B they fully support the case of the appellant. Having regard to the oral
evidence on record, this Court is satisfied that the Trial Court having
consiaered the evidence at length C'ame to the correct conclusion that the
witnesses examined by the Respondent did not appear to be truthful and
' ;
could not be relied upon. So far as the evidence of O.P.W.1, 6 and 4 is
concerned, the Trial Court gave cogent reasons to doubt their testimony.
C 1465-A-B-CJ

2.1. From the letters written by Appellant to the sons of Respondent,
it cannot be inferred that Respondent must have been the sister of the
Appellant merely because in the said letters the Appellant was described
D as Mama, and he referred to the sons of Respondent as Bhagina (sister's
son). 1465-C-DI

2.2. There is evidence on record to show that Respondent was also
distantly related to the appellant. lit any event, the two families were on . ,.
visiting terms and it cannot be denied that the appellant and the
E respondent were known to each other. The assertion of the appellant that
he came to know Respondent only after objections were filed in his
succession case cannot be accepted. But even so, one cannot jump to the
conclusion that since he described himself as the Mama it must be held ·
that he was the brother of the Respo11dent. Very often because of closeness
F of families even distant relatives are addressed as uncle, and sometimes
even persons unrelated are referred to as uncle i.e. Chacha or Mama etc.
(465-D-E-Fl ~·

2.3. Since it is the admitted ca:1e of the parties that the appellant is
not the real brother of Respondent he must be her step brother. Since in
G one of the rejoinders filed by the appellant it was stated that 'RD' was
the daughter of one Deolal Pandey and Respondent was her daughter, the
High Court connected these two facts and came to the conclusion that 'RD'
was married to 'RB'. This Court does not subscribe to this logic because
there is no evidence to show that 'RD' was ever married to 'RB'. Hence, .,
H the High Court was not justified in setting aside the findings of the Trial
) I

VIRENDRA KUMAR TRIPATHY v.NIRMALA DEVI [B.P. SINGH, J.] 461

Court. Accordingly, the order of the High Court is set aside and that of A
,;--,... the Trial Court is restored. [465-G-H; 466-A-B]

CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal Nos. 2781-84 of
2004.

From the Final Order and Judgment dated 21.1.2002 of the Patna High B
Court in Misc. Appeal Nos. 462 & 463 of 1997 and dated 22.L03 in L.P.A.
Nos. 304 and 310 of 2002.
'' ~
Akhilesh Kr. Pandey, Sudhanshu Saran for the Appellant.

RcS. Dvivedi, Nimish Gupta, Naveen Kumar, Suresh Tiwari and Ajay c
Chaudhary for the Respondents.

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by

B.P. SINGH, J. These appeals by special leave are directed against the
D
order of the High Court of Judicature at Patna In L.P.A. Nos. 304 and 310
of 2002 dated 22.1.2003 whereby the High Court dismissed the L.P.A.
~
\ preferred by the appellant herein on the ground that in view of the provisions
,;.,
of Section I 00-A of the Code of Civil Procedure inserted by an amendment
in the year 2002, no LPA lay.
E
It was urged before us by the appellant that the High Court was clearly
in error in not entertaining the LPA because it had been filed before the
amendment came into force, and in his submission LPAs pending as on the
date of the amendment were not affected by the amendment incorporating
Section lOOA in the C.P.C.
F
-~ However, rather than going into the question of the maintainability of
LPA, we have treated the special leave petitions as against the judgment and
order of the High Court in Misc. Appeal Nos. 462 and 463of1997. We have
heard learned counsel for the parties at length both on questions of law and
fact. We have ben taken through the entire evidence as also the judgment of G
the courts below.

The facts, insofar as they are relevant for the disposal of the appeal,
1 may be noticed. The case of the appellant is that his father Ram Briksh
Sharma was married to Buch Kumari Devi and they had five issues which
H
462 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2006j 2 S.C.R.

A included the appellant and his brother Mahendra Narayan Sharma and three
sisters, namely, Shyam Sunderi Devi, Kusum Devi and Kishori Devi. His
brother Mahendra Narayan Sharma was born on 1.1.1916. There is some
dispute as to the year of his death but that is not very material. According to
the appellant he died in the year 1937 whereas according to the respondents
B he died in the year 1942. After his death his wife Brij Kishori Devi succeeded
to his estate who also died on 4.9.92. An application for grant of succession
certificate was filed by the appellant Virendra Kumar Tripathy claiming that
he being the real brother of Mahendra Narayan Sharma, the husband of the
deceased, was entitled to the grant of succession certificate to the estate of ,.
Brij Kishori Devi. This Succession case was numbered as Succession
C Certificate Case No. 66/93 in the Court of 11th Additional District Judge
Patna. In the said Succession case the respondent Ninnala Devi objected and
filed a reply. Later in the year 1995 she also filed a Succession Certificate
Case No. 138 of 1995 claiming a Succession Certificate in respect of the
estate of the late Brij Kishori Devi. Her case was that Ram Briksh Sharma
D had tow wives. His first wife was one Mostt. Ramdru:o Devi from whom he
had two issues, namely, the appellant and Mahendra Narayan Sharma the
husband of the late Brij Kishori Devi. The second wife of Ram Briksh Sharma
was Buch Kumari Devi who gave birth to a son, th~: appellant herein, and
three daughters. She, therefore, claimed that the husband of late Brij Kishori . .
Devi was her full brother and therefore she was entitled to the grant of
E succession certificate in preference to the appellant Virendra Kumar Tripathy
who was only a step brother of Mahendra Narayan Sharma.

The facts which are not in dispute are that Ram Briksh Sharma died in
the year 1964 while Buch Kumari Devi died in the year 1936 and Ramdaso
F Devi in the year 1944. Mahendra Narayan Sharma, th·~ husband of late Brij
Kishori Devi was born on 1.1.1916 while the appellant Virendra Kumar
Tripathy was born in the year 1929. Nirmala Devi the respondent herein
claimed to be 21 years younger to Mahendra Narayan Sharma which means
that she was born in or about the year 1937.

G Thus the appellant claimed to be the real brother of the husband of the
deceased BriJ Kishori Devi both being the sons of Ram Briksh Sharma and
Buch Kumari Devi while respondent claimed to be the n:al sister of Mahendra
Narayan Sharma both being the issues of Ram Briksh Sharma and Ramdaso
Devi, the first wife of Ram Briksh Sharma.

H The question, therefore which arises for consideration is whether Ram
VIRENDRA KUMAR TRIPATHY v.NIRMALA DEVI [B.P. SINGH. J.] 463

Briksh Sharma was married only once to Buch Kumar Devi or wheth~r he A
.,...,., married twice and his first wife, namely, Ramdaso Devi gave birth to the
respondent herein and Mahendra Narayan Sharma. The parties led evidence
before the trial court. Since it was pleaded by the respondent herein that Ram
Briksh Sharma was married twice, the burden was upon her to prove this fat.
The trial court accepted the evidence adduced by the appellant herein and
issued succession certificate in his favour. while rejecting the succession
B
certificate case filed by the respondent herein. Jt found that the witnesses
who deposed at the trial on behalf of the respondent Nirmala Devi were
unreliable and it was apparent that they were not revealing the truth .
.....

The trial court discussed their evidence at length and came to the c
conclusion that O.P.W. 1, 4 and 6 were unreliable and could not be believed.
The appellant had also examined witnesses to prove the fact that Ram Briksh
Sharma had married only once and in this regard the evidence of A.P.W. 1,
2 and 3 was reliable.

The respondent preferred Misc.Appeal Nos. 462 and 463 of 1997 before D
the High Court of judicature at Patna impugning the judgment and order of
the I Ith Additional District Judge Patna dated 18.9.97. The High Court on
-'\ consideration of the evidence on record upset the findings recorded by the
J
trial court while allowing the miscellaneous appeals and granted succession
certificate in favour of the respondent herein holding that the evidence on E
record established the fact that Ram Briksh Shanna had married twice, his
first wife being Ramdaso Devi, and that the respondent herein and Mahendra
Narayan Shanna were born to said Ramdaso Devi.

We have heard the learned counsel for the parties at length and they
have taken us through the evidence on record. So far as the evidence of F
O.P.W. l, 6 and 4 is concerned the trial court gave cogent reasons to doubt
their testimony. It found that P.W. 1 who was 60 years old was born in the
year 1937. He claimed to have witnessed the marriage of Ram Briksh Sharma
with Buch Kumari Devi. This appeared to be false because admittedly the
·appellant, namely, Virendra Kumar Tripathy was born in the year 1929. Two G
sisters ofVirendra Kumar Tripathy were even older than him. So the marriage
of Ram Briksh Sharma and Buch Kumar must have taken place many years
before 1937 in which year this witness was born. He also stated Ramdaso
'r Devi was only two years older to him and therefore, according to him Ramdaso
Devi was born in the year 1935. This also appears to be blatantly false
H
464 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2006] 2 S.C.R.

A because Mahendra Narayan Sharma said to be the son of Ramdaso Devi was
born on 1.1.1916, and therefore Ramdaso Devi ;ould never be the mother of
Mahendra Narayan Sharma who was 19 years older than her. The High Court
has dealt with the evidence of this witness in a rather cryptic manner observing
that this witness was disbelieved because he failed to name the son of Ramdaso
B Devi, although he claimed to be one of the grand sons of Deolal Pandey, the
father of Ramdaso Devi. As we have noticed earlier the trial court recorded
reasons for rejecting the evidence of O.P.W. , which have not even been
adverted to by the High Court. The next witness O.P.W. 2 claimed to be 37
years old on the date he was deposing. Therefore, it could be deduced that
...
he was born in the year 1960. He had no personal knowledge about the
C marriage of Buch Kumari Devi with Ram Briksh Sharma, nor did he know
anything about the family of Ramdaso Devi. He claimed to have acquired
some knowledge from his parents. Obviously, this type of evidence was not
very helpful to the respondent herein. O.P. W. 3 is another witness whose
evidence was considered by the trial court. His evidence has been rejected
D after adequate consideration. His evidence has not even been adverted to by
the High Court because the respondents did not rely on it. We have carefully
perused the findings recorded by the High Court a11d we find that the rejection
of his evidence is fully justified. O.P. W. 4 is 'IJirmala Devi herself.
. \
O.P.W. 6 a Mukhia of the village was examined to prove the certificate
E issued by him. Though the certificate purports to have been issued after full
enquiry, it appears from the deposition of this witness that in fact no enquiry
was made could be made in the absence of any documentary evidence in
possession of the Panchayat. He admitted that there was no family record
maintained by the Panchayat. He did not know whether the name of any
F member of the family of the appellant was recorded in the voters list. We
have perused the evidence and we do not consider this witness to be an
independent witness or a reliable witness because he has gone out of the way
to issue a certificate unsupported by any material before him. This only
shows that he was inclined in favour of the respondent. What is more important
is the fact that even if we accept his deposition before the court as it is, it
G does not prove that Ram Briksh Sharma was married to Ramdaso Devi and
that the respondent Nirmala Devi and Mahendra Narayan Sharma were the
issues through Ramdaso Devi. All that he has stated is that Ram Briksh
Sharma had married twice. Beyond that nothing is there in his statement to t
the effect that it was Ramdaso Devi who was married to Ram Briksh Sharma, f

H or that Mahendra Narayan Sharma and Nirmala Devi the respondent herein
VIRENDRA KUMAR TRIPATHY v.NIRMALA DEVI (B.P. SINGH, J.) 465

were the son and daughter of Ram Briksh Sharma and said Ramdaso Devi. A
..J, .• "1 The evidence ofO.P.W. 6 only goes to this extent that Ram Briksh Sharma
had married twice.

A surprising feature about the judgment of the High Court is that it has
not at all considered the evidence led by the appellant in support of his case
which was accepted by the trial court. The evidence of A.P.W. I, 2 and 3 are B
relevant and they fully support the case of the appellant.

Having regard to the oral evidence on record we are satisfied that the
~
trial court having considered the evidence at length came to the correct
conclusion that the witnesses examined by the respondent did not appear to
be truthful and could not be relied upon.
c
We then come to the documentary evidence on record relied upon by
the respondent. In this connection it was emphasised that there was letters
written by the ·appellant to the sons of Nirmala Devi in the years 1981 and
1993. It was stated that in the said letters the appellant was described as D
Mama, and he referred to the sons ofNirmala Devi as Bhagina (sister's son).
--..; From this it was sought to be inferred that N irmala Devi must have been the
sister of the appellant. On the basis of these letters alone we are not prepared
' to draw this inference. There is evidence on record to show that Nirmala
Devi was also distantly related to the appellant. In any event, the two families
E
were on visiting terms and it cannot be denied that the appellant and the
respondent were known to each other. The assertion of the appellant that he
came to know Nirmala Devi only after objections were filed in his succession
case cannot be accepted. But even so, we cannot jump to the conclusion that
since he described himself as the Mama it must be held that he was the
brother ofNirmala Devi the respondent herein. Very often because of closeness F
of families even distant relatives are addressed as uncle, and sometimes even
persons unrelated are referred to as uncle i.e. Chacha or Mama etc. We
expected some more evidence to be examined to support the plea that the
appellant was the brother of the respondent.
G
The logic of the judgment of the High Court is that these letters proved
that the appellant was the brother of Nirmala Devi. Since it is the admitted
~
case of the parties that the appellant is not the real brother of Nirmala Devi
'f he must be her step brother. Since in one of the rejoinders filed by the
appellant it was stated that Ramdaso Devi was the daughter of one Deolal
Pandey and N irmala Devi was her daughter, the High Court connected these H
466 <;UPREME COURT REPORTS [2006] 2 S.C.R.

A two facts and came to the conclusion that Ramdaso Devi was married to Ram
Briksh Sharma. We do not subscribe to this logic because there is no evidence r ...
to show that Ramdaso Devi was ever married to Ram Briksh Sharma. We,
therefore, come to the conclusion that the High Court was not justified in
setting aside the findings of the trial court. These appeals must be allowed
B and we accordingly allow these appeals, set aside the impugned judgment
and order of the High Court, and restore that of the trial court. There shall
be no order as to costs.

B.B.B. Appeals allowed.

r·

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