The Bombay High Court said it would frame issues on April 7 on the plea made by Shiv Sena president Udhav Thackeray seeking probate of the will of his late father Bal Thackeray, and also on the application filed by his brother Jaidev, opposing the probate.

A probate petition is filed to get the will of a deceased person certified by the court. The matter came up before Justice RD Dhanuka, who granted time to both the sides for filing additional documents.

The legal dispute between the brothers is over the distribution of family property which includes bank deposits and Thackeray’s bungalow ‘Matoshri’ in Bandra.

Uddhav, anointed as the party’s Executive President by his father in his lifetime, moved the Bombay High Court to probate Bal Thackeray’s will this month. The Sena patriarch died on November 17, 2012.

But the probate petition of Uddhav has been now converted into ‘a testamentary suit’ as Jaidev, who has not been left any share in the property by the will, has opposed it. Bal Thackeray’s estate, as per the will, includes property and bank deposits, collectively worth Rs. 14.85 crore.

Jaidev, the estranged son of Thackeray, has contested the will, saying that the property is worth much more, and the bungalow itself is worth Rs. 40 crore.

Under the will, Bal Thackeray has given the first floor of the bungalow to his grandson Aishvarya, the son of Jaidev and his divorced wife Smita. The second floor has been bequeathed to Uddhav and his sons Aditya and Tejas. The ground and third floors have been given to Uddhav.

But it gives no share to Jaidev and Madhavi, the widow of Thackeray’s eldest son Bindumadhav who died in a road accident some years ago. Madhavi has not contested the will.

Former Sena MP and senior advocate Adhik Shirodkar, lawyer Anil Parab, architect Shashi Prabhu and Ravindra Mhatre, former personal assistant to the late Sena supremo, have been named executors of the will. Dr. Jalil Parkar, his personal physician, is the witness in whose presence Thackeray signed the will.

The scam-hit Adarsh Housing Society today sought from the Defence Ministry, documents supporting its claim of ownership of land in posh South Mumbai where the 31-storey building stands, failing which they threatened to launch a hunger strike. In a letter to Union Defence Minister A K Anthony, the Society members urged him to furnish documents or make it public within a month or else face agitation.
“All these days, the Defence Ministry has been indulging in a malicious drive of misleading the country and denying to part with documents pertaining to title of the land in question. We call upon you to do so and submit copy of the documents showing title of the land,” the letter states.
Asking the minister to come clean on the issue of ownership of the land, the letter says, “You (Anthony) and your department have been wrongly blaming us for grabbing defence land meant for Kargil war veterans and widows. But did you as a minister before claiming title over the land in question, make enquiries or see any of the documents which present a totally different picture regarding the status of the ownership of the land?”
Some of the documents relied upon by the Society include a December 1958 letter written by the Army to the Maharashtra government seeking for transfer of unclaimed land in Block VI of Colaba where Adarsh building stands; the state government’s reply to the letter in February 1964 refusing to transfer the land and letter from the army headquarters conveyed to the local military authorities asking them to drop proposal of transfer of land.
“Despite all these documents and the judicial commission’s finding that the land belongs to the Maharashtra government, the Ministry is not ready to accept the truth. You are now called upon to furnish documents supporting your claim,” the letter said.
The Society has asked the minister to furnish any document showing that the Ministry of Defence had acquired the land, possession certificate and title documents if any.
Levelling allegations against former Army Chief V K Singh, the Society said, “General V K Singh has misguided you (Anthony) to settle his personal scores with General Deepak Kapoor. You have been merely toeing his line without checking the facts.”
The letter is signed by the managing committee of the Society comprising eight persons including R C Thakur, retired brigadier T K Sinha and former MLA KanhaiyalalGidwani’s son Kailash.

AICC Secretary and Mumbai North MP Sanjay Nirupam demanded introduction of power reforms to end the monopolisation of purchase and distribution of electricity.

Nirupam, who had recently undertaken a four-day hunger strike to demand reduction in power tariff in Mumbai, said the power reforms must address issues of functioning, costing, pricing of discoms (distribution companies) like RInfra and TATA so that consumers become ultimate beneficiaries of privatisation of the power sector.

In a letter to Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, Nirupam said the government must take steps to revamp the constitution and functioning of the regulator/appellate authority.

He urged Chavan to resolve the demands, including that of scrapping of various charges in the electricity bills, extending subsidy to electricity consumers of Mumbai and audit of the discoms.

“Your initiative to provide relief to more than 26 lakh electricity consumers will go a long way in alleviating the sufferings of the common people of Mumbai,” he said adding that the government should work towards providing relief to the electricity consumers, especially those of RInfra.

He alleged that there was a nexus between the regulator and RInfra and demanded a thorough investigation by appropriate agency to unearth complicity between them.

In the absence of any real competition in suburban Mumbai, there is absolutely no justifiable reason why there is an inordinate delay in approving the request of 8 lakh consumers to switch to TATAs by the appellate authority, he said.

“Why should Reliance object to the migrations and why should any authority entertain the objections,” he asked.

S. Peter Paul Raj, the founder and managing Trustee of Good Samaritan Mission has taken an initiative to oppose the demolitions in city by observing a ‘One Day Token Fast’ at Azaid Maidan on 30th January coinciding with the death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

Peter Paul Raj and his associates condemned the demolitions and said that ‘Demolitions are a National Loss’, and a threat to the stability of society. In addition, he and his associates are of the opinion that the present ‘Systems of Contractual Labour are Equally Hazardous’ as has been prove time and again.

According to Peter Paul Raj, “The intention of our NGO is not to interfere with the normal working of Maharashtra government. The only intention is to find a way to stop this unwarranted loss. In future such mistakes won’t be repeated.”

The mission plans to network with social workers working for other NGO’s, individuals who support this vision and affected people. We also aim to create awareness by visiting the societies not to buy the flats which are illegal as they may have to undergo heavy losses due to demolition.

When asked why he had opted for a one day hunger strike Peter Paul Raj replied, “We want make people aware about the loss of property within a day. If we receive good response from public then I might go for an indefinite protest to providing justice to the common man. The government should form a committee for monitoring illegal development so that nobody incurs loss due to demolition activities.”