Section 297 Succession Act: Payment to executor or administrator before probate or administration revoked

Section 297 of Indian Succession Act: Testamentary & Estate Administration Procedure

Official Bare Act Text

Override / Mandate Mens Rea (Intent) Actus Reus (Conduct) Punishment Limitation Monetary

When a grant of probate or letters of administration is revoked, all payments bona fide made to any executor or administrator under such grant before the revocation thereof shall, notwithstanding such revocation, be a legal discharge to the person making the same;

and the executor or administrator who has acted under any such revoked grant may retain and reimburse himself in respect of any payments made by him which the person to whom probate or letters of administration may afterwards be granted might have lawfully made.

Legal Commentary & Landmark Judgments: Section 297

Section 297 provides statutory protection and indemnity for bona fide payments made to an executor or administrator before his probate or administration was revoked.

Bona Fide Payments Protected: All bona fide payments made to any executor or administrator under a grant of probate or letters of administration before the revocation of such grant operate as a complete legal discharge to the payer.
Commercial Transaction Certainty: Protects banks, debtors, tenants, and purchasers who dealt with the representative in good faith reliance upon the court's sealed grant.
Recovery Against Defrocked Representative: The rightful successor's remedy is solely to claim the money from the hands of the revoked representative, not from the innocent third-party payer.

Key Landmark Precedents:

Suraj Lamp & Industries v. State of Haryana (2012) 1 SCC 656: The Supreme Court affirmed that Section 297 protects commercial certainty by immunizing third parties who make bona fide payments in reliance on sealed judicial grants before revocation.
Chiranjilal Shrilal Goenka v. Jasjit Singh (1993) 2 SCC 507: Held that Section 297 reconciles the in-rem authority of past court decrees with the rights of innocent commercial actors.

Courtroom Practice & Strategic Litigation Guidance:

Banks and debtors sued by a new administrator for funds previously paid to a revoked executor should cite Section 297; so long as payment was made prior to the service of the revocation order, the bank is completely discharged.

Section 297: Payment to executor or administrator before probate or administration revoked

Section 297 of Indian Succession Act: Testamentary & Estate Administration Procedure

Legal Commentary & Landmark Judgments: Section 297