Bombay High Court takes possession of deceased teacher's property

Mumbai: The Bombay high court has ordered the properties of a deceased Bandra teacher to be taken over by the court administrator and also sell off movable properties that were in possession of a petitioner who is a legatee of the teacher. The order was given by the court while hearing a testamentary petition filed by the legatee who is also the neighbour of the deceased teacher. The legatee had informed the court that the teacher had bequeathed the properties to him in his will for taking care of his ailing and aged sister after his death. The court has, meanwhile, also issued bailable warrants against five persons of an NGO who had withdrawn funds from the bank account of the deceased much after the teacher died.    

The single bench of Justice G.S. Patel had been hearing the testamentary petitions filed by Sadiq Rizvi as well as Teddy Williams both claiming to be named by Bruno D’Costa, the teacher, in his will as beneficiaries of his properties. Rizvi claimed to have been bequeathed the properties by D’Costa for taking care of his sister after his death while Williams claimed that D’Costa had bequeathed the properties to Grace Educational Society, an NGO which he was representing. The properties in question were two flats and a garage in Bandra and a bank account and some movable properties.

After hearing and examining Williams’ petition, the court arrived at a conclusion that he had tried to mislead the court and asked him to return the amount he had withdrawn from D’Costa’s account and also initiated perjury proceedings against him. Williams was also asked to provide the original documents of the NGO’s registration and asked the five trustees of the NGO to be present in court.

Justice Patel said that till the testamentary petitions were disposed off, the properties in question should be handed over to the court administrator. In light of this order, Rizvi, who is in possession of the share certificates of the two flats and garage, would hand it over to the administrator along with two scooters and a car which would be disposed off by the administrator and the amount accruing from their sale would be deposited in the account of the deceased.

The court also issued bailable warrants of Rs 15,000 each against the trustees of the NGO as they had knowingly allowed Williams to use the name of the NGO to withdraw monies from the account of D’Costa well after his death. The matter has been kept for hearing on February 22.        

However, in course of the hearing of the petition, a school had intervened saying that the teacher had intended to bequeath the property to them as a result of which the court ordered the properties and bank accounts of the teacher to be taken over by the court administrator. The court also appointed a caretaker for the sister.