Girnar bungalow case: HC takes steps to secure old notes in lockers

In a precedent-setting case, banks associated with Sushila Rani Patel’s estate asked to deposit money in new account.
Sangeet Natak Academy laureate Sushila Rani Patel’s estate will not have to suffer the inconveniences caused by demonetisation. In an order that will set a precedent, the Bombay High Court has taken immediate steps to ensure that banks associated with the estate secure all the old notes in her locker, and arrange for them to be deposited in a new bank account.
On Friday, Justice Gautam Patel proactively appointed a Court Receiver to open Sushila Rani Patel’s locker, make an inventory of it, and of the cash that is in the now demonetised notes, and deposit it in a new bank account.Justice Patel’s orderwas based on an application filed by Neela Shinde, executor of the will. She is also the chairman of the Sushila Rani Baburao Patel Trust, which claims to be the beneficiary of her Will. Justice Patel observed that the “estate should not suffer.”
This order granting immediate relief could help in other similar cases, involving old currency. Apart from the plush Girnar Bungalow that is at the heart of this dispute, Sushila Rani had four lockers, one at the Union Bank of India and three at Vijaya Bank. On November 21, the executor of the will wrote to both the banks asking for old currency from her lockers to be taken and deposited in her account. “While Vijaya Bank did not respond at all, Union Bank of India wrote back saying that a court order will be required. That is when we decided to approach the bank,” Neela Shinde said.
Sushila Rani was the third wife of Baburao Patel who founded India's first film trade magazine in 1935. Baburao, who also produced films, bought the bungalow in the 1950s and its rights were passed on to Sushila Rani after his death in 1982.
Sushila Rani Patel died of a heart attack on July 24th, 2014. However, disputes regarding their estate arose only days after which the trust, through chairperson Neela Shinde, filed a petition in the Bombay high court to ratify the Will. The petition was opposed by Geeta Patel-D’Souza.
Shinde claims Sushila Rani, had in a Sept 2010 will, given the bungalow to the trust. But D'Souza, Baburao's granddaughter from his second wife, contends that she is the legal heir.