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 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.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.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.“Even assuming that the petitioners dispute the identity or inclusion of the petition-schedule property in the Will, such a dispute cannot be resolved by seeking a parallel grant on the basis of intestacy. In contrast, the earlier testamentary grant continues to operate,” the court added.The petitioners must pursue the remedy available to them in law before the appropriate forum. 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. Thus, viewed from any angle, the relief sought in the original petition is unsustainable, the court said.
