Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE High Court, Arusha District Registry, has allowed businessman Rahul Dilip Gokhale to administer the estates of his deceased father, tycoon DilipShripadGokhale, who died intestate on October 16, 2020 at Arusha Lutheran Medical Center in Arusha City.
Judge Mohamed Gwae ruled in favour of the businessman after granting a petition for letters of administration in order to protect the deceased properties and monies deposited in different accounts at various banks in Tanzania and abroad.
“The petitioner, Rahul DilipGokhale, is hereby granted letters of administration of the estate of his late father, DilipShripadGokhale. The appointed administrator is hereby ordered to administer the deceased’s estate according to the law,” the judge said in the ruling dated June 29, 2021.
Judge Gwae further directed the petitioner to make an inventory of the deceased’s estate before the court within six months from the date of the ruling and present final accounts after 12 months from the date of the court’s order.
The deceased is survived by four heirs, namely ShubhadaDilipGokhale, Ashish DilipGokhale, Nikhil DilipGokhale and Rahul DilipGokhale and left estates, particularly shares in various family companies estimated at 100m/- and several monies in various banks.
The companies and banks with the countries in brackets include MS Africasia Seed Company Limited (Tanzania), MS Africasia Seed Kenya Limited (Kenya), MS Africasia Seed Company Limited (Uganda) and MS Africasia Seed Nigeria Limited (Nigeria).
Others are MS Arusha Tin Containers Limited and Bank Accounts kept with Bank of Baroda (Tanzania), Bank Accounts kept with UBS and Bank Accounts kept with Basler KantonalBank (Switzerland).
When considering the petition and the oral submission by the petitioner’s counsel, the judge saw no reason as to why letters of administration should not be granted in favor of the petitioner.
He pointed out that ever since the petition was filed in court together with the citation to the public in one newspaper; no caveat was entered or filed in respect of the petition or whatsoever.
“It appears that the deceased left a number of properties which basically cannot be left unattended; more so, the petitioner is a son of the deceased and thus he cannot be denied the right to administer the estate of his late father unless otherwise,” the judge said.
According to him, the purpose of appointing administrators or granting of probate to executors was merely to protect deceased’s properties to ensure they are not left unattended or wasted unjustifiably and to safeguard the interests of those who are intended to benefit from the properties.
“From circumstances of this matter, I am of the considered view that since the petition has disclosed that the deceased left properties, it is prudent that such properties fall under the administration of the administrator duly appointed by this court so that the said properties are not misappropriated,” he said.
During hearing of the petition, the counsel for the petitioner had informed the court of the requisite citation done by him and further prayed for the grant of this petition as no caveat was filed ever since the matter was duly filed in court.
The counsel for the petitioner went on stating that there was need to have a person to administer the estates of the deceased, especially in making follow ups on issues related to Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) as far as the properties left by the deceased person are concerned.
