In Brief
The Supreme Court addressed two conflicting transfer petitions concerning a partition suit and a testamentary case arising from the estate of Late Badri Nath Agarwal. The Court held that Section 213 of the Indian Succession Act mandates probate/letters of administration only for Wills made by certain classes of persons within specified territorial limits. As the petitioner had already relied upon the Will in civil proceedings without probate, he could not later invoke probate proceedings' purported primacy for strategic advantage. The Court emphasized that modern virtual hearings make party location immaterial. Consequently, it dismissed the transfer of the partition suit to Uttarakhand but transferred the testamentary case to the High Court of Delhi and ordered both proceedings consolidated there.
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