Chennai: Terming it as demonstrably untenable, the Madras high court has dismissed a plea moved by ‘legal heirs’ of former chief minister and founder of AIADMK M G Ramachandran seeking claim over a property in Virugambakkam.
The court passed the order while dismissing a plea moved by late M C Ramamurthy, son of M G Chakrapani, brother of MGR and 14 others claiming to be Class II heirs of the former chief minister.
“The administrator of the estate of the late M G Ramachandran, in the statement filed on Dec 14, 2023, has asserted that the petition-schedule property forms part of the property described in the Will as ‘Sathya Garden,’ situated in Saligramam and Virugambakkam and that it has vested in the M G R School and Home for the Speech and Hearing Impaired Trust,” Justice A D Maria Clete said. Pointing out that the Will of MGR had already been probated by the court in 1992, the court said, “therefore, the very foundation of the original petition—that the late MGR died intestate in respect of the petition-schedule property —is demonstrably untenable.“ Once the Will covering the property has been probated and the estate has been brought under testamentary administration, a parallel grant of letters of administration on the footing of intestate succession cannot be made in respect of the very same property, the judge said. Thus, viewed from any angle, the relief sought in the original petition is unsustainable, the court said.
Unless the effect of the subsisting testamentary grant upon the property is displaced in proceedings recognised by law, no letters of administration based on intestate succession can be granted in respect of that property.
The petitioners must pursue the remedy available to them in law before the appropriate forum.