The Delhi High Court has dismissed a plea filed by Priya Jain, daughter of late Davinder Kumar Jain of the Luxor Group, challenging a 2004 family will. The court reiterated that the law does not obligate a testator to record reasons for making unequal bequests.
A division bench of Justices Anil Kshetarpal and Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar upheld the validity of the will, rejecting Jain’s allegation that the document was “forged and fabricated.” The appeal had been filed against a single-judge order which had earlier ruled that the execution of the will was duly proved in compliance with Section 63 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925.
The bench clarified that registration of a will is not mandatory under the law. “The contention that the will is required to be registered is immaterial. Section 63 of the ISA does not require a Will to be registered,” the court observed.
The judges noted that the unregistered nature of the will could not cast doubt on its validity since one of the attesting witnesses had credibly supported the execution of the document. His testimony, the bench said, withstood detailed cross-examination without being impeached.
“The will stands duly proved in accordance with law, free from suspicious circumstances, and reflective of the testator’s volition,” the order stated.
The court acknowledged that the will departed from the natural line of succession by conferring the majority of the estate upon one heir, while excluding or partially excluding others. However, it emphasised that Indian law does not compel a testator to explain such unequal distribution.
“Provided the document is otherwise duly executed and free from suspicious circumstances, the law imposes no obligation upon a testator to record reasons for unequal bequests,” the bench underscored.
Priya Jain had challenged the single-judge ruling, arguing that relevant facts were ignored and that the decision was contrary to the “established standards of proof and principles of law.”
Her father, Davinder Kumar Jain, who headed the Luxor Group, passed away in March 2014.
