Bombay High Court held that Shireen Jejeebhoy, sister of late Ratan Tata, will receive legal costs from his estate. The Court clarified share distribution under his Will and four Codicils.
Mumbai: Today, on June 23, the Bombay High Court recently gave a key decision while interpreting the Will and Codicils of the late industrialist and philanthropist Ratan Naval Tata, who passed away on October 9, 2024.
In a case filed by the executors of his Will, the High Court made it clear how the shares and other properties of the deceased are to be distributed.
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The case was heard by a single bench of Justice Manish Pitale. The proceedings were taken up as Originating Summons under Rule 238 of the Bombay High Court (Original Side) Rules, 1980.
The Plaintiffs in the case were the executors and executrices mentioned in the Will. The Defendants were also beneficiaries, and five of them were trustees of the Ratan Tata Endowment Foundation and the Ratan Tata Endowment Trust.
Justice Pitale held that
“Question C is answered by directing that the plaintiffs would be entitled to costs for the present proceedings from the estate of the deceased. Question D is answered in terms of the findings rendered on questions A and B.”
This means that the executors will get the legal costs they spent from Ratan Tata’s estate itself.
The main legal questions came up because of the fourth Codicil (a formal amendment or addition to a Will) made by the late Ratan Tata.
He had originally made his Will in February 2022 and later added four Codicils in April 2022, September 2022, March 2023, and December 2023.
Even though there was no actual dispute between the parties, the executors filed the summons to seek the Court’s interpretation on how the Will and Codicils should be read together, especially after the fourth Codicil.
After carefully listening to the arguments from both sides, the Court observed that
“… it is clear that the Codicil while altering or adding to the dispositions under the Will is deemed to be forming part of the Will and the original Will has to be considered with the alterations introduced by the Codicils.”
The Court analysed paragraph No.13 of the Will which deals with the rest and residue (remaining part) of the estate. This paragraph has clauses A to D.
Clause A says that the remaining estate should be equally distributed between a charity (mentioned in paragraph No.5) and beneficiaries named in paragraph No.8.
However, the Court noted:
“It is significant to note that clause A of paragraph No.13 of the Will makes no reference to the listed and unlisted shares of the deceased, not specifically covered elsewhere in the Will. Since financial properties defined in paragraph No.4 of the Will include shares, absence of reference to listed and unlisted shares of the deceased not specifically covered elsewhere in the Will indicates that such shares would stand bequeathed to the beneficiaries specifically mentioned in paragraph No.8 of the Will.”
But when clause 1 of the fourth Codicil was examined, it was found that it completely replaced paragraph No.13 of the Will.
The substituted paragraph made no mention of the beneficiaries from paragraph No.8 and added that the listed and unlisted shares not otherwise mentioned would be a part of the residual estate.
The Court remarked:
“It is relevant to note that if the substituted paragraph No.13 as per clause 1 of the fourth Codicil is applied in the context of listed and unlisted shares, paragraph No.8 of the Will already having dealt with the same, would lead to a situation where no listed and unlisted shares of the deceased would be available for the Ratan Tata Endowment Foundation and Ratan Tata Endowment Trust. Considering the effect of clause 1 of the first Codicil, which substituted paragraph No.5 of the Will and the intention and the thrust of the deceased towards making available large part of his estate for charitable purposes to the Ratan Tata Endowment Foundation and Ratan Tata Endowment Trust, question A framed in the present proceedings will have to be answered with this in mind.”
The Court further noted that the wording of the fourth Codicil said that paragraph No.13 of the Will is deleted and replaced. This new version replaced only clause A of paragraph No.13, not the entire paragraph.
The Court made a key observation:
“Since the Codicil will prevail and the Will has to be considered with such alteration/addition made by the Codicil, question A framed in these proceedings is answered by holding that listed and unlisted shares of the deceased not specifically covered elsewhere in the Will form part of the rest and residue of his estate and stand bequeathed to Ratan Tata Endowment Foundation and Ratan Tata Endowment Trust in equal shares absolutely.”
With this, the Bombay High Court finally disposed of the case by clarifying that all the listed and unlisted shares not directly mentioned in any part of the Will will now go to the two charitable trusts founded by Ratan Tata – the Ratan Tata Endowment Foundation and the Ratan Tata Endowment Trust.
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Appearance: For Plaintiffs: Senior Advocate Aspi Chinoy, Advocates Karl F. Tamboly, Anuj Desai, J.N. Mistry, and Vijaya D. Rao.
For Defendants: Senior Advocate P.J. Pardiwalla, Advocates Aditya Mehta, Jai Munim, Rohan Dakshini, Shweta Jaydev, and Atul K. Jasnani.
Case Title:
Shireen Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy & Ors. v. Jamsheed Mehli Poncha & Ors.
Neutral Citation: 2025:BHC-OS:8760
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