Singanamala Krishnamacharlu and Another vs Singanamala Venkatamma

The question raised before us in this appeal is whether a succession certificate can be granted to a minor on application made by him through his

natural guardian. We answer the question, which is not absolutely free from difficulty, in the affirmative. Apart from Section 9 of the Succession

Certificate Act VII of 1889, which we shall consider presently, there is nothing in the Act which precludes a minor from applying for a certificate,

while we find that Sections 8 to 13 of Probate and Administration Act, V of 1881, prohibit grants of Probate and Letters of administration to

minors. If the minor is the heir of deceased, as is the case, the property will vest in him and he would - be the person entitled to institute suits to

recover debts due to the estate. Section 4 of the Succession Certificate Act lays dawn that no Court shall pass a decree against a debtor of the

deceased person in favour of a person claiming to be entitled do the effects of the deceased except on the production by the person so claiming of

a certificate issued under the Act. Now if where a minor is so entitled, the certificate were to be granted to his guardian, as suggested in Ex parte

Mahadev Gangadhar 28 B.P 344 : 6 Bom. L.R. 281, the requirements of Section 4 would be satisfied; and if the certificate could not also be

ganted to the minor, as held in Gulabchand v. Moti Chatraji 25 B.L 523 : 3 Bom. L.R. 795 the result would be that no suit could be instituted at all

during the minority of the heir, a result which could not have been contemplated by the Legislature. Section 9, no doubt, lays down that, whenever

the Court considers it desirable to take security from the applicant, it shall require him to execute a bond with two sureties, and it is argued that, us

minor cannot execute such a bond, it must be held he is incompetent to apply for a certificate. But we think that execution of the bond by the

guardian on behalf of the minor applicant would bind the minor and thus satisfy the provisions of '' Section 9. In our opinion, therefore, this section

does not present any serious difficulty. We may observe with reference to the Bombay decision that the attention of the learned Judges, who

decided these cases, does not appear to have been drawn to the difficulty that would arise in collecting debts of the minor heir of a deceased

person, if this view of the law were to be accepted as sound.

On the other hand, the Calcutta and the Allahabad High Courts have held in Kali Coomar Chatterjee v. Tara Prosunno Mookerjee 5 C.L.R.

517 and Ram Kuar v. Sardar Singh 20 A.P 352 that a certificate can be granted to a minor. We think this is the correct view and dismiss the

appeal with costs.