Raja Sardar Singh’s Will Upheld: Supreme Court Hands Estate to Khetri Trust

The Supreme Court of India has brought finality to a 36 year long legal dispute over the estate of Raja Bahadur Sardar Singh of Khetri, ruling that the State of Rajasthan has no locus standi to challenge the probate granted to his Will.

Delivering its judgment on September 1, 2025, a Bench comprising Justice B.V. Nagarathna and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma dismissed multiple Special Leave Petitions filed by the State of Rajasthan as well as agnates claiming succession, while affirming that probate of the Will had been validly granted by the Delhi High Court.

The dispute revolved around the Will executed by Raja Bahadur Sardar Singh on 30 October 1985 and a Codicil dated 7 November 1985, by which he created the Khetri Trust to administer his estate.

Following his death in 1987, a probate petition was filed before the Delhi High Court.

The learned Single Judge dismissed the petition in 2012 on the ground that the Rajasthan Escheats Regulation Act, 1956, had been invoked and that the State had taken possession of some of the properties.

However, in 2022, the Division Bench of the Delhi High Court reversed this decision, holding that the Will had been validly executed and complied with Section 63 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 and Section 68 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872. Probate of the Will was accordingly granted.

The State of Rajasthan challenged the High Court ruling in the Supreme Court, claiming that the properties of the late Raja had escheated to the Government under Section 29 of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 on account of an alleged failure of heirs.

The Court rejected this contention, holding that Section 29 is attracted only where a person dies intestate and there is a complete absence of heirs.

In cases where a valid Will is proved before a competent court, testamentary succession prevails and the estate must devolve on the legatees named in the Will.

The Court clarified that probate proceedings are meant to establish the genuineness of a Will and that the Government cannot act as a rival claimant unless intestacy and absence of heirs are established.

The Bench referred to its earlier judgment in State of Rajasthan v. Lord Northbrook (2019) and to divergent views expressed in prior proceedings but concluded that the matter was now settled, since the Division Bench of the Delhi High Court had granted probate.

The Top Court observed that if the Will were to be declared invalid, only the legal heirs under the Hindu Succession Act would have the right to challenge probate or seek its revocation under Section 263 of the Indian Succession Act. The Government, until that point, remains a stranger to succession proceedings.

Merely invoking the Rajasthan Escheats Act could not confer locus standi to oppose probate.

The Court emphasized that under Section 29 of the Hindu Succession Act, the doctrine of escheat applies only in the rare event that a Hindu dies intestate without any Class I or Class II heirs, agnates, or cognates. In such a situation alone, property would devolve on the State, subject to obligations and liabilities that an heir would have borne.

Where a valid Will exists, the Government cannot claim succession rights.

Accordingly, the Court held that the Khetri Trust, being the legatee under the probated Will, must carry out the wishes of the testator in accordance with its objects.

Alongside the State’s petitions, certain agnates of the testator had also approached the Supreme Court in a separate Special Leave Petition, contending that they were entitled to succeed as heirs once the Single Judge had declined to grant probate. The Court, however, noted that these petitioners had earlier withdrawn both their objections in probate proceedings and a civil suit challenging the Will, without seeking liberty to revive their claims. Importantly, the petitioners suppressed the fact of withdrawal in their filings before the Supreme Court.

Holding that suppression of material facts is a grave matter that disentitles a litigant from discretionary relief under Article 136 of the Constitution, the Bench dismissed the petition and imposed costs of Rs. 1,00,000 each on the petitioners, to be deposited with the Supreme Court Mediation Centre within six weeks.

In effect, the Top Court held that since the Will had been duly probated, the question of escheat did not arise and the State of Rajasthan had no standing to contest the matter.

The Special Leave Petitions were accordingly dismissed on grounds of lack of locus standi and suppression of facts.

The Court thereby settled the long running succession dispute, ensuring that the estate of Raja Bahadur Sardar Singh devolves upon the Khetri Trust in accordance with his Will.

Case Title: State of Rajasthan v. Ajit Singh & Others; Surendra Singh & Another v. Lord Northbrook & Others

Bench: Justice B.V. Nagarathna and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma

Date of Judgment: September 1, 2025