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Woman's right over property given for maintenance is absolute: SC

The Times of India, Nov 24 2015

SC fillip to women's property rights

`Retains her say even after death' '

In another prowomen ruling, the Supreme Court has said that a woman's right over property , given in ieu of maintenance to be en oyed during lifetime, cannot be taken away after death and she is entitled to bequeath the assets as per her will. The SC ruling follows a recent order making it clear that a woman continues to have a right to her “streedhan“ even if separated from her hus band. The court had in a 2005 ruling granted women a coequal share in inherited property, though it had recently clarified that this comes into effect from that year onwards.

A bench of Justices M Y Eqbal and C Nagappan said a woman's right over the property given for maintenance is absolute and in-laws cannot claim it after her death. It said maintenance for wife or widow is not a mere formality to be exercised as a matter of concession but a valuable right for the woman which cannot be denied under Hindu law.

The court held that even in cases where only limited right is created in favour of a woman, this becomes absolute under the Hindu Succession Act.

“It is well settled that under the Hindu law, the husband has got a personal obligation to maintain his wife and if he is possessed of properties then his wife is entitled to a right to be maintained out of such properties.“

The court passed the order on a plea filed by a widow's inlaws challenging her decision to bequeath the properties, given for her maintenance, to athird party . The relatives had maintained that the properties were given to her to enjoy only during her lifetime and the ownership must be vested with them after her death, a plea rejected by the SC.

Holding that the widow was occupying the property in lieu of maintenance, the bench said, “whatever form a limited interest is created in her favour who was having a pre-existing right of maintenance, the same has become an absolute right by the operation of Section 14(1) of the Hindu Succession Act.“

“A Hindu woman's right to maintenance is a personal obligation so far as the husband is concerned, and it is his duty to maintain her even if he has no property . If the husband has property then the right of the widow to maintenance becomes an equitable charge on his property and any person who succeeds to the property carries with it the legal obligation to maintain the widow,“ the court said.

Woman can be karta of HUF: HC

The Times of India Feb 01 2016

Abhinav Garg

`Have The Same Rights As Men To Manage Property'

The eldest female member of a family can be its “karta“, the Delhi high court has ruled in a landmark verdict. A unique position carved out by Hindu customs and ancient texts, “karta“ denotes managership of a joint family and is traditionally inherited by men.

“If a male member of a Hindu Undivided Family (HUF), by virtue of his being the first born eldest, can be a karta, so can a female member. The court finds no rest riction in law preventing the eldest female co-parcenor of an HUF from being its karta,“ Justice Najmi Waziri said in a judgment made public earlier this week.

The karta occupies a position superior to that of other members and has full authority to manage property , rituals or other crucial affairs of the family . These include ta king decisions on sale and purchase of family assets, mutation of property etc.

The ruling came on a suit filed by the eldest daughter of a business family in north Delhi staking claim to be its karta on the passing of her father and three uncles. She was challenging her cousin brother. The family consisted of four broth ers, with the surviving eldest shouldering the responsibility of Karta. Trouble began when the brothers passed away . The eldest son of a younger brother declared himself to be the next Karta, but was challenged by the daughter of the eldest brother who is also the seniormost member of the family .

The term co-parcenor refers to rights derived in Hindu law to be the joint legal heir of assets in a family. Traditional Hindu view, based on treatises such as Dharmshastra and Mitakshara school of law, recognises only male inheritors to ancestral property . Amendments to the Hindu Succession Act in 2005 introduced section 6 that levelled the playing field for women.

The court termed it “rather odd“ that following the amendments, “while females would have equal rights of in heritance in an HUF property , this right could nonetheless be curtailed when it comes to the management of the same“.Section 6 of Hindu Succession Act, it pointed out, did not place any restriction on women becoming the Karta.

The HC ruling is important because it takes the 2005 reform in the Act to its logical conclusion. While the amendment restricted itself to providing women equal inheritance rights, the verdict now allows them to manage property and rituals of a joint family.

Justice Waziri underlined that the “impediment which prevented a female member of a HUF from becoming a Kar ta was that she didn't possess the necessary qualification of co-parcenership“, but section 6, “a socially beneficial legislation“, removed that bar.

Justice Waziri said Section 6 gave “equal rights of inheritance to Hindu males and females, its objective is to recognise the rights of female Hindus and to enhance their rights to equality apropos succession. Therefore, courts would be extremely vigilant in any endeavor to curtail or fetter statutory guarantee of enhancement of their rights. Now that this disqualification has been removed by the 2005 amendment, there is no reason why Hindu women should be denied the position of a Karta.“

The son maintained that Hindu law recognises the right of eldest male member to be the Karta. He claimed that even the 2005 amendment recognised the rights of a female to be equal to those of a male only with respect to succession to ancestral properties, not management of estate.

Cooperative societies and married daughters

The Times of India, Apr 21 2016

Dhananjay Mahapatra  Dad can give property to married daughter over son and wife: SC

In a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court has ruled that a man is legally entitled to nominate his married daughter to own his cooperative society flat after his death, over his wife and only son.

The West Bengal Cooperative Societies Rules, 1987, stipulate that the owner of a flat in a cooperative housing society can leave his house to any person “belonging to his family“.

Taking this rule as their defence, along with other provisions of the WB Cooperative Societies Act, 1983, Biswa Ranjan Sengupta's wife and son challenged the decision of the managing committee of Purbanchal Housing Estate, Salt Lake City , Kolkata, to transfer ownership of a flat to Indrani Wahi, Sengupta's married daughter.

Based on the objection, the deputy registrar of Cooperative Societies declined to record Indrani's name as the successor of the flat originally allotted to Sengupta, who in his last days was living with her because of “ill-treatment“ by his wife and son. Indrani's appeal was al lowed by a single judge of the high court, which directed the flat to be registered in her name. But a division bench of the HC said Indrani was a part shareholder of the property along with Sengupta's wife and son and that she could dispose of the property only with the express consent of other shareholders. Indrani appealed against this judgment in the apex court.

A bench of Justices J S Khehar and C Nagappan analysed the entire gamut of judgments on this issue and said: “There can be no doubt that where a member of a cooperative society nominates a person in consonance with provisions of the rules, on the death of such member, the cooperative society is mandated to transfer all the share or interest of such member in the name of the nominee. The rights of others on account of inheritance or succession is a subservient right. Only if a member had not exercised the right of nomination under Section 79 of the Act, then and then alone, the existing share or interest of the member would devolve by way of succession or inheritance.“

Writing the judgment for the bench, Justice Khehar said: “It is not necessary for us to deal with the issue whether Indrani Wahi, being a married daughter of the original member, Biswa Ranjan Sengupta, could be treated as a member of the family of the deceased because the single judge, as also the division bench of the HC, have concluded that she was a member of the family .“ The court noted that this concurrent finding was not challenged by Sengupta's only son.

Holding that the cooperative society had no option but to register Indrani as the owner of the flat, the SC bench said it would be open to Sengupta's son to pursue his case of succession or inheritance in other forum.