| Headnote |
Hindu Succession Act, 1956: Self acquired property of male Hindu dying intestate – Right of daughter of such male Hindu to inherit – Held: If a property of a male Hindu dying intestate is a self acquired property or obtained in partition of a co-parcenery or a family property, the same would devolve by inheritance and not by survivorship, and a daughter of such a male Hindu would be entitled to inherit such property in preference to other collaterals – In the case at hands, since the property in question was admittedly the self-acquired property of male Hindu despite the family being in state of jointness upon his death intestate, his sole surviving daughter will inherit the same by inheritance and the property shall not devolve by survivorship.Hindu Succession Act, 1956: Scheme of the Act – Held: The main scheme of this Act is to establish complete equality between male and female with regard to property rights and the rights of the female were declared absolute, completely abolishing all notions of a limited estate – The Act brought about changes in the law of succession among Hindus and gave rights which were till then unknown in relation to women’s property – The Act lays down a uniform and comprehensive system of inheritance and applies, interalia, to persons governed by the Mitakshara and Dayabhaga Schools and also to those governed previously by the Murumakkattayam, Aliyasantana and Nambudri Laws – The Act applies to every person, who is a Hindu by religion in any of its forms including a Virashaiva, a Lingayat or a follower of the Brahmo Pararthana or Arya Samaj and even to any person who is Buddhist, Jain or Sikh by religion excepting one who is Muslim, Christian, Parsi or Jew or Sikh by religion. Hindu Succession Act, 1956: s.14 – Absolute right of female Hindu – Held: s.14 of the Act of 1956 declares property of a female Hindu to be her absolute property – The legislative intent of enacting s.14(I) of the Act was to remedy the limitation of a Hindu woman who could not claim absolute interest in the properties inherited by her but only had a life interest in the estate so inherited – s.14(1) converted all limited estates owned by women into absolute estates and the succession of these properties in the absence of a will or testament would take place in consonance with s.15 of the Act, 1956. Hindu Succession Act, 1956: s.15(2) – Purpose of enactment – Held: The basic aim of the legislature in enacting s.15(2) is to ensure that inherited property of a female Hindu dying issueless and intestate, goes back to the source – s.15(1)(d) provides that failing all heirs of the female specified in Entries (a)-(c), but not until then, all her property howsoever acquired will devolve upon the heirs of the father – The devolution upon the heirs of the father shall be in the same order and according to the same rules as would have applied if the property had belonged to the father and he had died intestate in respect thereof immediately after her death – Applying the settled legal proposition to the facts of the case at hands, since the succession of the suit properties opened in 1967 upon death of Kupayee Ammal, the 1956 Act shall apply and thereby Ramasamy Gounder’s daughter’s being Class-I heirs of their father too shall also be heirs and entitled to 1/5th Share in each of the suit properties.Hindu law: History and development – Hindus believe their laws to exist in the revelations preserved in ‘Vedas’, Shrutis (that which are heard and revealed) and Smritis (that which is remembered) in contradiction to Shrutis – The Smritis comprise forensic law or the Dharma Shastra and are believed to be recorded in the very words of Lord Brahma – The Dharma Shastra or forensic Law is to be found primarily in the institutes or collections known as ‘Sanhitas’, Smritis or in other words, the text books attributed to the learned scholarly sages, such as, Manu, Yajnavalchya, Vishnu, Parasara and Guatama, etc. – Their writings are considered by the Hindus as authentic works – On these commentaries, digests and annotations have been written – The commentaries by various learned scholars have given rise to different schools of Hindu Law - like Daya Bhaga in Bengal, Mayukha in Bombay, Konkan and Gujarat and Marumakkattayam or Nambudri in Kerala and Mitakshara in other parts of India – The Mitakshara school of law is one of the most important schools of law having a very wide jurisdiction – It applies to majority of India with slight variations with the fundamental principles being the same – The Mitakshara has always been considered as the main authority for all the schools of law, with the sole exception of that of Bengal, which is mostly covered by another school known as Daya Bhaga – The Mitakshara school derives majorly from the running commentaries of Smritis written by ‘Yajnavalkya’.Hindu law: Dayabhaga system and Mitakshara system – Distinction between – The Dayabhaga system prevails in Bengal, while the Mitakshara system is applicable to other parts of India – The difference between the two systems arises from the fact that, while the doctrine of religious efficacy is the guiding principle under Dayabhaga School, there is no such definite guiding principle under the Mitakshara School – Sometimes consanguinity, and at the other times, religious efficacy has been regarded as the guiding principle – According to ‘Mulla’, Mitakshara recognises two modes of devolution of property, namely, survivorship and succession – The rules of survivorship apply to joint family property, and the rules of succession apply to property held in absolute severalty by the last owner. |
