Chennai: The Supreme Court today said that daughters will have right over parental property even if the coparcener had died prior to the date when Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005 came into force.
The major judgment was pronounced by a three-judge bench of the apex court headed by Justice Arun Mishra. The judgment implies that daughters will have the right over parental property even if the coparcener had died before the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005 came into effect.
The bench pronounced the judgment while hearing a bunch of appeals questioning whether the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005, had a retrospective effect. The Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act 2005 gave equal rights to daughters in ancestral property.
The issue raised before the Supreme Court was whether with the passing of Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005, a daughter of a coparcener shall by birth become a coparcener in her own right in the same manner as the son. In other words, whether a daughter could be denied her share on the ground that she were born prior to the enactment of the Act and, therefore, cannot be treated as coparcener?
The court held that daughters’ rights are absolute after the amendment and that she would have the right of inheritance irrespective of whether the father was alive at the time of the amendment or not.
The bench cited the objective of the amendment to say that daughters were to be given a right in the HUF as a coparcenary, equal to a son, and that such conditions go against the spirit of the amendment carried out.
It held that a daughter, living or dead, as on the date of the amendment, shall be entitled to a share in her father’s property. It means that even if the daughter was not alive on the date of the amendment, her children could claim their rightful portion.