Grandson Cannot Claim Coparcenary Rights In Property Inherited By Father Through Partition: SC
The Supreme Court has held that a son does not acquire a right by birth in property inherited by his father from his grandfather under Section 8 of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, particularly where the property has already been partitioned among the grandfather's legal heirs.
New Delhi: In a recent judgment on inheritance laws, the Supreme Court ruled that a grandson acquires no right by birth to property his father inherited from his grandfather under Section 8 of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, especially where the property has already been partitioned among the grandfather’s legal heirs.
A Bench of Justices Augustine George Masih and Sunita Agarwal dismissed an appeal by a minor, represented by his mother, J Gomathi, who sought a half share in a 1,811 sq ft Chennai property his father sold in 1997. The property had come to the father through a 1994 compromise decree in a partition suit filed by his sister.
The Court noted that when a Hindu male dies intestate, his property passes to Class I heirs, which include a son and the son of a predeceased son, but not the son of a living son. A son inheriting under Section 8 therefore takes the property in his individual capacity, not as Karta of his own HUF.
Since the succession opened before the appellant’s birth and the partition ended the joint family character, the Bench held that the heirs held as tenants in common. It also ruled that Section 6 of the Act and Section 29-A of the Tamil Nadu Amendment, which gives daughters coparcenary rights, did not apply.
Upholding the High Court, the Bench found no infirmity in its judgment.
