Supreme court: Daughters become coparcener in joint family irrespective of when such daughters are born
Accordingly, we hold that the rights under the amendment
are applicable to living daughters of living coparceners as on
9-9-2005 irrespective of when such daughters are born.
Disposition or alienation including partitions which may have
taken place before 20-12-2004 as per law applicable prior to
the said date will remain unaffected. Any transaction of
partition effected thereafter will be governed by the
Explanation.”
23) The law relating to a joint Hindu family governed by the Mitakshara
law has undergone unprecedented changes. The said changes have
been brought forward to address the growing need to merit equal
treatment to the nearest female relatives, namely daughters of a
coparcener. The section stipulates that a daughter would be a
coparcener from her birth, and would have the same rights and liabilities
as that of a son. The daughter would hold property to which she is
entitled as a coparcenary property, which would be construed as
property being capable of being disposed of by her either by a will or any
other testamentary disposition. These changes have been sought to be
made on the touchstone of equality, thus seeking to remove the
perceived disability and prejudice to which a daughter was subjected.
The fundamental changes brought forward about in the Hindu
Succession Act, 1956 by amending it in 2005, are perhaps a realization
of the immortal words of Roscoe Pound as appearing in his celebrated
treaties, The Ideal Element in Law, that “the law must be stable and yet
it cannot stand still. Hence all thinking about law has struggled to
reconcile the conflicting demands of the need of stability and the need of
change.”
24) Section 6, as amended, stipulates that on and from the
commencement of the amended Act, 2005, the daughter of a
coparcener shall by birth become a coparcener in her own right in the
same manner as the son. It is apparent that the status conferred upon
sons under the old section and the old Hindu Law was to treat them as
coparceners since birth.
REPORTABLE
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CIVIL APPEAL NOS. 188-189 OF 2018
[@SLP(C) Nos. 10638-10639 of 2013]
DANAMMA @ SUMAN SURPUR & ANR. Vs AMAR & ORS.
Dated: FEBRUARY 1, 2018.
