1966 (10) TMI 39

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....the will were these : " After my lifetime, the minor sons of my divided son the aforesaid Annamalai Chettiar, viz., Narayanan and Viswanathan and the male children that may be born hereafter to the aforesaid Annamalai Chettiar shall take and enjoy in equal shares and with absolute rights all assets and liabilities in respect of immovable and movable properties.... I hereby appoint my divided son S.N.A.S. Annamalai Chettiar... and his wife, Meenakshi Achi... as executors. Therefore, they shall after my lifetime manage and augment all my immovable and movable properties and firms, which are mentioned above, in their capacity as guardians and executors of the aforesaid minors, and when the aforesaid minors attain majority deliver the sam....

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....e Indian Succession Act be taken to be the date when the testator died. " With special leave, Narayanan and Viswanathan have appealed to this court. Ordinarily the will of a testator speaks on the date of his death. If a bequest is made to a class of persons, then the thing bequeathed by the operation of section 111 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925, goes only to persons belonging to that class as are alive at the testator's death. But to this rule there is an exception that if property is bequeathed to a class of persons and such class is described as standing in a particular degree of relationship to a specified individual and the possession of the legatees is deferred until some time after the death of the testator because of a pr....

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....hat may be born hereafter to the aforesaid Annamalai Chettiar shall take and enjoy in equal shares and with absolute rights all assets and liabilities ". Counsel for the appellants strenuously contended that the members of the class designated were under the will to take possession as and when each member attained the age of majority. But that is contrary to the terms of the will. The testator had in express terms devised the property to his grandsons, who were to take and enjoy the property with absolute rights " after the death of the testator ". Appointment of the parents of the grandsons as their guardians to manage the property for and on behalf of the minors had not the effect of deferring possession. The property was expressly given ....