HC completes probe into Dandavate will case

MUMBAI: The report of the inquiry into why the Bombay HC took more than five years to certify the will of late socialist leader Madhu Dandavate is with the chief justice, said sources.
The inquiry was ordered on November 27, the day TOI carried the report based on an article by Dandavate's son Uday in the November issue of the 'Radical Humanist', where he said that his father's will had been held up for five years by officials of the testamentary department of the high court as they wanted a bribe.
Subsequently, Uday , who heads a design research consultancy firm in the US, has clarified that he received the certified copy of his father's will from Bombay HC last month.
However, the inquiry went on and examined if Uday could still have been tricked into paying a bribe after holding out for five years. ''My lawyer asked me for Rs 9,000 to be paid as administrative charges, which I did in good faith. I have no idea whether this was used to pay a bribe,'' Uday said. Lawyers say there is no such administrative charge.
Uday said he lost part of the inheritance, which was ''no more than about Rs 15 lakh-20 lakh'' for not being able to provide the probate in time.
''I fought my battle with the court officials and my lawyers for five years patiently. My parents believed that I must fight my battles like a common man, not like a politically influential parents' son. That is what I did,'' said Uday.
He also said he wrote the article in 'Radical Humanist' because he was appalled by the corruption in the Commonwealth Games. ''I am utterly frustrated by the apathy of the common man towards corruption,'' he said.
Uday said he had planned to protest outside the chief justice's office this December, had he not got the probate.Sources said that the day the report appeared in TOI, there was a flurry of activity behind closed doors in the testamentary department. ''A cartel of lawyers who only deal with wills have a stranglehold over the department. Their employees had illegally closed the door and were rummaging through the papers on Saturday,'' said a lawyer.
Sources said that the clutch of lawyers who hold sway over the testamentary department boast that they can get a will probated in a month if the heir is willing to pay them Rs 50,000. Other lawyers who occasionally take up matters relating to wills complain that their case papers are often untraceable.
Lawyers said this kind of corruption also flourishes in other departments of the high court. ''If we do not bribe the officials who check the case papers before placing the petition before the court, they keep our case pending,'' said a lawyer.
Asked why no lawyer complained against them, he said, ''Who will take on the mafia and ruin his practice? Is there an effective redressal mechanism?''
Uday said that the high court officials demanded a bribe because they know that ''the system is not capable of deterring, stopping or punishing them'' for their acts of corruption.