- The Hon’ble Supreme Court has on Wednesday sought Centre’s response in a plea challenging section 15 of the Hindu Succession Act (HSA) on the grounds on gender discrimination.
- The plea had reached the Apex Court via a Special Leave Petition filed in the year 2018 against the order of the Bombay HC in the matter which had rejected the mother’s caveat on the ground that she did not have a caveatable interest in the property of her deceased daughter during the lifetime of the spouse of the deceased.
- On January 31st, 2022 the Apex Court directed that the petition be listed before a three- Judge bench comprising Justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant and Bela M Trivedi. Senior Advocate Meenakshi Arora has been appointed as amicus curiae in the case.
- Section 15 of the Hindu Succession Act provides that if a female Hindu dies intestate, then her property will devolve on her sons and daughters and her husband, then upon the heirs of the husband, then upon her mother and father, and lastly upon the heirs of the father and then the mother. This stands in stark contrast with the succession in case of a male Hindu where his mother inherits along with his children and widow.
- The petition was filed by the mother of a deceased daughter, arguing that section 15 of the Hindu Succession Act is discriminatory and violative of Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution. It has been argued that in the event that a Hindu Woman passes away without a will (intestate), Section 15 of HSA prioritises the heirs of the husband over the parents of the deceased woman for the purpose of inheritance. The woman’s husband, if alive at the time of her death, inherits the entire property by default, with no share left for the woman’s parents.
- Also, section 15(2) of the HSA states that the property of the woman dying intestate reverts to the source from whence it came, which means that if she inherits the property from her father, it goes back to him, and if she inherits the property from her father in law, then the property reverts to him. Further, even if the woman has inherited her property from her mother, it cannot devolve upon the mother, and goes to the father and his heirs. These rules of reversion do not apply in case of males. Section 8 of the HSA regulates the devolution of property in case of males and the property in this case does not revert to the source from whence it came.
- The Court had observed in 2019 that the Writ petition raises important issues of gender equality. Now we have to wait and see what the response of the Centre is going to be.
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