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Sanjay Sharma @ Sanjay Bhardwaj v. Krishnadhan Khaware

Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 708Decided 15 Jul 2026
C.A. No.-009005-009005 - 2026
Justice Sanjay Karol · Justice Vipul M. Pancholi · Justice Nongmeikapam Kotiswar Singh

Background

In 2005, an executor applied for probate of a 1995 will made by one Shrilal Singhania, naming Sanjay Sharma (also known as Sanjay Bhardwaj) as beneficiary. Objectors got the application rejected by the District Judge, Deoghar, on the ground that it was time-barred, since it was filed a decade after the testator's death; the Jharkhand High Court agreed. Sanjay Sharma appealed, arguing the limitation period for probate does not simply run from the date of death.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the Limitation Act does not fix any specific time for filing a probate application; the right to apply is a continuing one that accrues only when it becomes actually necessary to apply: here, when the testator's widow executed a General Power of Attorney hostile to the will in August 2005, shortly before the application was filed. It also held the courts below erred in rejecting the application under Order VII Rule 11 CPC by effectively deciding the genuineness of the will itself at a summary threshold stage, which requires a full trial with evidence rather than dismissal at the outset. Both the District Judge's and High Court's orders were set aside, and the matter restored for trial.

Lesson Learnt

There is no fixed deadline counted from a person's death for family members to apply for probate of their will: the clock starts only when it becomes actually necessary to assert the will's validity, such as when someone acts against it.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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