The Administrators General Act is a Central legislation enacted in 1963 for consolidating and modifying the legal principles dealing with the office, functions and responsibilities of Administrator General. The Act under Section 3 provides for the appointment of Administrator General by the State Government. The State Government is empowered to appoint the same Administrator General for more than one state if necessary.
The person to be appointed as an Administrator General shall have seven years practice as a lawyer or shall serve as the attorney of any High Court for a term of seven years or shall be member of State judicial service for a term of ten years or five years standing as the Deputy Administrator General. For the purpose of assisting and aiding the Administrator General, the State Government shall also appoint Deputy Administrator General to accomplish the functions and implement the powers of the Administrator General.
The functions and powers of the Deputy Administrator General shall be determined by the State Government and Administrator General by general or special orders. The Deputy Administrator General while carrying out the functions and responsibilities shall have the same privileges and liabilities as that of the Administrator General. To be appointed to the post of Deputy Administrator General, a person shall have three years standing as a lawyer or attorney of any High Court or member of state judicial service.
In discharging the functions and responsibilities, the Administrator General shall be deemed as corporate entity with perpetual succession, common seal and the right to litigate in the name of the corporation. With regard to the Administrator General, the High Court shall have the authority to issue probate and the letters of administration in conformity with any law in force anywhere in the state where the property to be administered is located. But the express provision conferring power on the High Court does not bar the jurisdiction of any district court. But, the letters of administration so issued by the High Court shall not be provided to the Administrator General if not issued to the next-of-kin of the deceased person.
The Administrator General of a State shall have the right to manage and deal with the property left by a deceased person. Where a person does not come within the jurisdiction of any court to entrust administration and an application has been filed for obtaining probate or letters of administration, his estates shall be administered by the Administrator General. If there is no one to conduct procedures for the protection of property of the deceased, Administrator General shall manage the property.
The Administrator General shall take necessary steps to obtain the letters of administration of the property situated in his State of the deceased person when he gets information regarding death of such person, but only as prescribed under the rules formulated by the State Government. The Administrator General shall take necessary steps for the management of the property of the deceased only if he has reasonable apprehension that that property may be misappropriated, value of the property may be depreciated or the property may be wasted if such action is not taken and the High Court shall also issue orders in this subject matter.
Where the High Court revoked the letters of administration issued to the Administrator General, he can incur the expenses of attaining the letters of administration, any fees payable under the provisions of the Act and the expenditure of the Administrator General from the estate of the deceased. The Administrator General after paying off all the liabilities, appoint the Official trustee to manage the properties of the deceased after notifying in the official gazette.
The Administrator General shall have all the powers for appropriate management and supervision of the property and shall make such improvements necessary for the proper maintenance of the property. The Central Government and the State Governments shall formulate rules to implement the provisions of the Act.
The Act repealed the Administrators General Act of 1913 without changing the status of the existing Administrators General holding office. The present legislation was amended by enacting Administrators General (Amendment) Act, 2012 which enhanced the financial value of the property to ten lakhs.