India, Sept. 24 -- The Bombay High Court on Tuesday struck down an order passed by a civil court in Nashik, which ordered DNA tests to ascertain the paternity of a 19-year-old claiming one-fifth share in a local hotelier's estate as his illegitimate child. The court said that DNA tests can be ordered only when the trial court finds it impossible to arrive at a definite conclusion and decide the controversy put forth before it.

The court was hearing a plea filed by the late hotelier's widow and their three children, challenging the order passed by a Joint Civil Judge, Senior Division, Nashik.

The Nashik court had directed the regional forensic science laboratory to conduct DNA tests on samples from the 19-year-old and one of the late hot...