OD-13 IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA IN APPEAL FROM ITS TESTAMENTARY AND INTESTATE JURISDICTION ORIGINAL SIDE APO/25/2026 IA No. GA/1/2026 IN THE GOODS OF: ANIRUDH CHAMRIA (DEC.) -AND- NEERAJ KHANNA -VS- AMIT DHANDHANIA BEFORE: The Hon’ble JUSTICE DEBANGSU BASAK -AND- The Hon’ble JUSTICE AJAY KUMAR GUPTA For the Appellant : Mr. Jishnu Saha, Sr. Adv. Mr. Rishad Medora, Adv. Ms. Anamika Pandey, Adv. Mr. Ishan Saha, Adv. Mr. Saptarshi Biswas, Adv. Mr. Ghanshyam Pandey, Adv. Mr. Satyam Bhimsaria, Adv. For the Respondent : Mr. Jishnu Chowdhury, Sr. Adv. Mr. Sarvopriya Mukherjee, Adv. Mr. Souradeep Banerjee, Adv. Mr. Subhamoy Patra, Adv. Mr. Shoham Sanyal, Adv. For the Caveator Umesh Chamria : Mr. Aniruddha Mitra, Sr. Adv. Mr. Shiilon Sengupta, Adv. Ms. Usha Doshi, Adv. HEARD ON : 28.07.2026 DELIVERED ON : 28.07.2026 DEBANGSU BASAK, J.:- 1. Appeal is directed against the judgment and order dated April 16, 2026 passed in the interlocutory applications filed in PLA/88/2021. 2 2. By the impugned judgment and order, learned Single Judge essentially issued directions in order to protect the estate of the deceased. 3. Appellant before us contends that, there is a prior registered Will executed by the deceased in favour of the appellant. Appellant dealt with a portion of the assets of the deceased, on the basis of the registered Will. Application for grant of Letters of Administration in respect of the registered Will is pending adjudication before the appropriate Forum. Impugned order was, therefore, uncalled for. 4. Respondent contends that, the appellant dealt with the assets of the deceased improperly. Assets of the deceased require protection. Impugned order, therefore, directed the protection and preservation of the estate of the deceased and no interference is called for. 5. Learned Single Judge by the impugned judgment and order directed the Administrator Pendende Lite to take possession of a portion of the estate of the deceased. During the pendency of the appeal, we requested the learned Administrator Pendende Lite so appointed to take symbolic possession thereof. Learned Administrator Pendende Lite did so. We took on record the report of the Administrator Pendende Lite in this regard on the previous date. 6. Learned Administrator Pendende Lite submits that, when he visited the locality to take symbolic possession, local authorities informed the Administrator Pendende Lite that, an advertisement should be published by him with regard to his actions. He seeks suitable direction in this regard. 3 7. We find that, by the impugned judgment and order, learned Single Judge put in place a mechanism in order to protect the estate of the deceased. The deceased expired on January 11, 2020. There are claims and counter claims between the appearing parties as to the Will of the deceased. The appellant claims that, the deceased executed a registered Will on March 14, 2018. An application for grant of Letters of Administration in respect of the Will dated March 14, 2018 filed at the behest of the appellant is pending adjudication before the High Court of Uttarakhand. 8. Respondent applied for grant of probate of a Will of the deceased dated December 14, 2019. Such probate proceeding was registered as PLA/88/2021. In such probate proceeding, several applications were filed. By the impugned judgment and order, learned Single Judge disposed of GA/1/2021, GA/3/2021 and GA/6/2022. 9. There are rival contentions between the parties with regard to the validity of the respective Wills of the deceased. We need not enter into such arena at this stage. 10. As noted above, learned Single Judge put in place a mechanism in order to protect and preserve the estate of the deceased till disposal of the probate proceeding. Learned Single Judge gave cogent reasons for doing so. 11. It is trite law that during the pendency of the probate proceeding, the estate of the deceased, if requiring protection, should be protected by the probate Court. Learned Single Judge did so. 12. Whether or not the deceased left behind a Will and if so, which of the Wills is his last are issues which are yet to be finally decided. 4 Claims of succession through the Will of the deceased would materialize on the decision of the issues of validity of the Will of the deceased. Till then, the mechanism put in place by the learned Single Judge should continue to protect and preserve the estate of the deceased. 13. In such circumstances, we are not minded to interfere with the impugned judgment and order. 14. All contentions raised by the respective parties before us are kept open to be decided by the appropriate Forum, in accordance with law. 15. So far as the request of the learned Administrator Pendende Lite with regard to publication of advertisement in the local newspaper is concerned, the parties including the learned Administrator Pendende Lite are at liberty to take appropriate direction from the learned Single Judge in this regard. 16. Since we did not invite the parties to file any objection with regard to the report submitted by the learned Administrator Pendende Lite before us, we clarify that we did not decide on the contents of such report. Parties are at liberty to take appropriate steps before the learned Single Judge in this regard. 17. APO/25/2026 along with the connected application are disposed of, without any order as to costs. (DEBANGSU BASAK, J.) 18. I agree. (AJAY KUMAR GUPTA, J.) sp3