The will to contest

A dispute over an estate valued at Rs 200 crores (US $ 33,000,000) of an elderly Parsi bachelor, Purvez Dalal, has resulted in a flurry of court cases.
According to a report in the Mumbai Mirror (June 30, 2014), Dalal’s assets include "a mansion on Peddar Road and flats in Colaba and Crawford Market... worth more than Rs 200 crores.”
The dispute regarding the estate of the late Dalal, is between the mother-daughter duo of Villy Avasia (estranged wife of Purvez’s late brother) and Shernaz Lawyer (née Avasia) on the one hand and Manek Dara Sukhadwalla, each claiming to be the executor of duly executed wills.
Sukhadwalla, who claims to have been an employee of Dalal and admittedly became known to him only in the last few months of his life alleged that Villy Avasia had obtained blank papers from Dalal, bearing his signature, which were filled up to create a will.
Both sides filed petitions for probate of their respective wills and contested the validity of the other’s will. Sukhadwalla argued the will with him was registered and of a later point in time. The Bombay High Court (BHC) held that the Avasias had a caveatable interest and were entitled to contest the will. The decision was upheld on April 24, 2013 by a two-judge bench of the BHC and eventually by the Supreme Court on November 19, 2013 which dismissed Sukhadwalla’s petition for leave to appeal.
The Avasias allege that Sukhadwalla, in collusion with Doodhmal and Pandey, exercised dominion over the deceased and control of his properties. The Avasias’ claim, during the last few months of his life, Dalal was suffering from both physical and mental infirmities and was not of sound mind. Whilst Sukhadwalla claims the will authorizes him to donate the estate to unspecified charities to be chosen by him at his discretion, the Avasias allege that the purported bequest to charity was merely a ruse to enable Sukhadwalla and others to siphon off the estate.
Avasia offered to forego her claim to the estate if a retired judge of the Supreme Court was appointed in place of Sukhadwalla to ensure that the estate in fact went to charity. Sukhadwalla, however, rejected this proposal.
The BHC had granted an injunction against Sukhadwalla on June 21, 2012 restraining him from acting under the will or disposing off the estate or receiving any benefit under the will. Sukhadwalla contested the decision but the injunction was confirmed by a division bench of the BHC by its order dated July 4, 2012. Thereafter Sukhadwalla filed a criminal complaint before a magistrate against the Avasias, including lawyer Jimmy Avasia, alleging forgery. The signature on the Avasias’ will had been admitted by Sukhadwalla but the police decided to authenticate the signature by referring it to a handwriting ‘expert’ who opined that the signature on the will did not match that of the deceased.
When Sukhadwalla sought to place reliance on the police report, the BHC on April 24, 2013 rebuffed his attempt observing that merely because in the police investigation it was allegedly found that the will was not signed by the testator, no final verdict could be recorded as regards its execution and validity as the same was a matter of a trial before the testamentary judge.
Thereafter, in a separate judgment on December 24, 2013 Justice R. D. Dhanuka of the BHC pulled up Sukhadwalla for having acted illegally by handing over possession of a flat from the estate of Dalal to a third party. The judge has held that such an act on his part is not with a view to protect the interest of the estate as claimed by him, but is for Sukhadwalla’s personal gain. The judge also observed that Sukhadwalla appeared to have withheld information from the Court regarding various immovable and movable properties of the deceased, bank account details and investments, etc.
It was also held that Sukhadwalla had suppressed true and correct facts from the court. The judge appointed an independent administrator for the estate.
Sukhadwalla’s appeal against the order has been heard by the BHC whose order is awaited. The BHC hearing on the show cause notice issued to Sukhadwalla, on the application of the Avasias for contempt of court, is also pending.