Bombay High Court: A Single Judge Bench of Manish Pitale, J., dealt with an originating summon under Rule 238 of the Bombay High Court (Original Side) Rules, 1980 (‘the said Rules’), which was related to the Will and the Codicils executed by Ratan Naval Tata (‘the deceased’). Though there was no dispute amongst the parties, the Court interpreted the said Will and the Codicils as the parties wanted clarity on few questions as to the effect of the fourth Codicil on the Will and the way the Will was to be read along with the four Codicils.
Background:
The deceased was a globally well-known industrialist and businessman who passed away on 9-10-2024. He had executed a Will dated 23-2-2022, and thereafter, he executed four Codicils dated 6-4-2022, 30-9-2022, 24-3-2023 and 22-12-2023. The plaintiffs were the executors, and they applied for probate of the said Will and Codicils.
The relevant paragraphs of the Will were as follows-
- Paragraph 4 — Financial Properties — which defined financial properties which included shares.
- Paragraph 5 — Charity – which directed that Ordinary Shares of Tata Sons Private Limited and Preference Shares of Tata Sons Private Limited of the deceased would be bequeathed to Ratan Tata Foundation to be utilized for public charitable purposes.
- Paragraph 8 — Other Bequests — which provided that assets other than those dealt with in Paragraph 5 should be bequeathed to Shireen Jeejeebhoy, Deanna Jeejeebhoy and Mohini M. Dutta.
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Paragraph 13 — Residuary Estate, etc. — which mentioned that the rest and residue estate should be distributed equally between the Charity referred to in Paragraph 5 and the beneficiaries listed in Paragraph 8, etc.
Clause 1 of the first Codicil substituted Paragraph 5 and directed that the equity shares in Tata Sons Pvt. Ltd. would be bequeathed to Ratan Tata Endowment Foundation (‘RTEF’) (or alternatively R.N. Tata Endowment Foundation), Ratan Tata Endowment Trust (‘RTET’) and the for-profit private limited company to be incorporated in New Delhi whereas the preference shares would be bequeathed to RTEF.
Similarly, Clause 1 of the fourth Codicil substituted Paragraph 13 which provided that the rest and residue of his estate, including the listed and unlisted shares not specifically covered elsewhere in the Will would be bequeathed to RTEF and RTET in equal shares absolutely.
The first question which arose was that whether the listed and unlisted shares (other than the ordinary and preference shares of Tata Sons Private Limited) including the shares in RNT Associates Pvt. Ltd. would be bequeathed as per Clauses 4 and 8 of the Will or would they be considered a part of deceased’s residual estate and stand bequeathed to the RTEF and RTET in accordance with the fourth Codicil.
The second question to be considered by the Court was that while Paragraph 13 of the Will consisted of Clauses A to D, the language of substituted Paragraph 13 as per fourth Codicil indicated that only Clause A of Paragraph 13 was substituted and thus, it was to be determined whether the fourth Codicil substituted the entire Paragraph 13 or just Paragraph 13A.
The third question laid down the issue of the provisions for the plaintiff’s cost.
Analysis:
The Court first dealt with its jurisdiction exercised under Rule 238 of the said Rules, while considering such originating summons. It referred to Charu K. Mehta v. Lilavati Kirtilal Mehta Medical Trust, 2012 SCC OnLine Bom 1679, and observed that the originating summons were intended to cover cases involving pure questions of construction of a document where there were no disputed questions on facts. In the present case, the above two conditions were satisfied and hence, the originating summons were accepted and entertained with the direction that the same should be numbered as an ordinary suit.
While relying on Bajrang Factory Ltd. v. University of Calcutta, (2007) 7 SCC 183, the Court observed that the Codicil would prevail over the Will and that the original Will would be considered with the alterations introduced by the Codicils.
As regards the first question, the position before the fourth Codicil was that since the financial properties defined in Paragraph 4 of the Will included shares, the absence of reference therein to ‘listed and unlisted shares of the deceased not specifically covered elsewhere in the Will’ indicated that such shares would stand bequeathed to the beneficiaries mentioned in Paragraph 8 of the Will. But if Paragraph 13, as substituted by the fourth Codicil, was to be applied in context of the listed and unlisted shares, Paragraph 8 would have already bequeathed those shares to the beneficiaries leading to no such shares being available for RTEF and RTET. The Court emphasised that the intention and the thrust of the deceased towards making available large part of his estate for charitable purposes to the RTEF and RTET should have to be considered and therefore held that the listed and unlisted shares would form a part of the rest and residue of his estate and should be bequeathed to RTEF and RTET in equal shares absolutely.
While dealing with the second question, the Court opined that although Clause 1 of the fourth Codicil stated that Paragraph 13 of the Will stood deleted and it was substituted in the manner specified in the said clause, the language of the substituted Paragraph 13 replaced the language of only Clause A of Paragraph 13 of the Will. Therefore, it was held that Clause 1 of the fourth Codicil substituted Clause A of Paragraph 13 of the Will and Clauses B, C and D of the said paragraph continued to remain in force.
The third question, as to the costs for the proceedings, was answered by the Court with a direction that the plaintiffs would be entitled to costs from the estate of the deceased. And consequently, the Court disposed of the proceedings and any other pending applications.
[Shireen Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy v. Jamsheed Mehli Poncha, Originating Summons (Lodging) No. 11394 of 2025, decided on 16-6-2025]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
For the Plaintiffs: Aspi Chinoy, Senior Counsel a/w Karl F. Tamboly, Anuj Desai, J.N. Mistry, and Vijaya D. Rao i/b Mulla & Mulla & Craigie Blunt & Caroe.
For the Defendants: Aditya Mehta a/w Rohan Dakshini and Shweta Jaydev i/b Rashmikant and Partners, for Defendants 1 to 5; Jai Munim i/b Bachubhai Munim & Co., for Defendant 6; P.J. Pardiwalla, Senior Counsel i/b Atul K. Jasnani, for Defendant 7.