Hyderabad: In a setback for Nandamuri Lakshmi Parvathi, widow of Andhra Pradesh former CM the late NT Rama Rao, Telangana high court has rejected her plea to take over the Basavatarakam Medical Trust in Hyderabad.
The court dismissed her reliance on a purported supplemental will allegedly written by NTR in 1995, which she claimed named her as the trust’s managing trustee. Presently, the administration of the trust is under the control of NTR’s son, actor-politician Nandamuri Balakrishna.
Justice G Radha Rani, while hearing Balakrishna’s plea, pointed out multiple procedural lapses in Lakshmi Parvathi’s claim. The judge noted that she failed to take appropriate legal steps to establish the unavailability or death of the attesting witnesses. Instead of filing their death certificates or seeking summons to secure their testimony, she simply stated that they were unavailable, which the court deemed insufficient.
The judge further ruled that under the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, proving a will requires strict adherence to legal procedures, which Lakshmi Parvathi had overlooked. Her attempt to introduce the son of a witness as a substitute was found to be legally irrelevant, as only an actual attesting witness can validate a will. The court emphasised that secondary evidence was inadmissible without foundational proof of the primary witnesses’s unavailability.
With the high court allowing Balakrishna’s petition and setting aside the city civil court’s earlier decision, Lakshmi Parvathi now faces a tough legal battle. If she intends to prove the legitimacy of the 1995 will, she must now rely on alternative methods compliant with the Indian Evidence Act. Failing this, the will may ultimately be deemed invalid.
This ruling marks a crucial moment in the ongoing legal and family feud over NTR’s legacy, reinforcing Balakrishna’s control over the Basavatarakam Medical Trust while dealing a blow to Lakshmi Parvathi’s claims.
Basavatarakam Medical Trust, which runs the Basavatarakam Indo American Cancer Hospital & Research Institute, was founded by NTR in memory of his first wife, Basavatarakam. Following her passing, NTR married Lakshmi Parvathi in 1994, a union that was never accepted by his children from his first marriage. After NTR’s death in Jan 1996, the trust remained under the control of his son Balakrishna, who has been managing its affairs.
Lakshmi Parvathi, however, moved the Hyderabad city civil court in 2009, claiming that NTR had executed a supplemental will on Nov 18, 1995, appointing her as the trust’s managing trustee. She sought an order under section 74 of the Indian Trust Act, 1920, to officially recognise her authority and restrain existing trust members from interfering in its administration.
Battle over will’s validity
A key point of contention was the validity of the supplemental will. The document was said to have been witnessed by two individuals—J Venkata Subbaiah and Y Tirupathi Rao—both of whom had since passed away. While NTR’s sons, including Balakrishna and the late Harikrishna, vehemently opposed Lakshmi Parvathi’s claim, questioning the authenticity of the will, she sought to prove its legitimacy through the testimony of JV Prasad Rao, the son of one of the original witnesses.
In 2018, the city civil court accepted Prasad Rao’s affidavit as evidence, despite objections from Balakrishna’s legal team. Challenging this decision, Balakrishna and the Basavatarakam Medical Trust moved the high court in 2019, arguing that the son of a witness could not testify to a will’s execution since he was not an attesting witness himself.
The court dismissed her reliance on a purported supplemental will allegedly written by NTR in 1995, which she claimed named her as the trust’s managing trustee. Presently, the administration of the trust is under the control of NTR’s son, actor-politician Nandamuri Balakrishna.
Justice G Radha Rani, while hearing Balakrishna’s plea, pointed out multiple procedural lapses in Lakshmi Parvathi’s claim. The judge noted that she failed to take appropriate legal steps to establish the unavailability or death of the attesting witnesses. Instead of filing their death certificates or seeking summons to secure their testimony, she simply stated that they were unavailable, which the court deemed insufficient.
The judge further ruled that under the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, proving a will requires strict adherence to legal procedures, which Lakshmi Parvathi had overlooked. Her attempt to introduce the son of a witness as a substitute was found to be legally irrelevant, as only an actual attesting witness can validate a will. The court emphasised that secondary evidence was inadmissible without foundational proof of the primary witnesses’s unavailability.
With the high court allowing Balakrishna’s petition and setting aside the city civil court’s earlier decision, Lakshmi Parvathi now faces a tough legal battle. If she intends to prove the legitimacy of the 1995 will, she must now rely on alternative methods compliant with the Indian Evidence Act. Failing this, the will may ultimately be deemed invalid.
This ruling marks a crucial moment in the ongoing legal and family feud over NTR’s legacy, reinforcing Balakrishna’s control over the Basavatarakam Medical Trust while dealing a blow to Lakshmi Parvathi’s claims.
Basavatarakam Medical Trust, which runs the Basavatarakam Indo American Cancer Hospital & Research Institute, was founded by NTR in memory of his first wife, Basavatarakam. Following her passing, NTR married Lakshmi Parvathi in 1994, a union that was never accepted by his children from his first marriage. After NTR’s death in Jan 1996, the trust remained under the control of his son Balakrishna, who has been managing its affairs.
Lakshmi Parvathi, however, moved the Hyderabad city civil court in 2009, claiming that NTR had executed a supplemental will on Nov 18, 1995, appointing her as the trust’s managing trustee. She sought an order under section 74 of the Indian Trust Act, 1920, to officially recognise her authority and restrain existing trust members from interfering in its administration.
Battle over will’s validity
A key point of contention was the validity of the supplemental will. The document was said to have been witnessed by two individuals—J Venkata Subbaiah and Y Tirupathi Rao—both of whom had since passed away. While NTR’s sons, including Balakrishna and the late Harikrishna, vehemently opposed Lakshmi Parvathi’s claim, questioning the authenticity of the will, she sought to prove its legitimacy through the testimony of JV Prasad Rao, the son of one of the original witnesses.
In 2018, the city civil court accepted Prasad Rao’s affidavit as evidence, despite objections from Balakrishna’s legal team. Challenging this decision, Balakrishna and the Basavatarakam Medical Trust moved the high court in 2019, arguing that the son of a witness could not testify to a will’s execution since he was not an attesting witness himself.
