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Succession and Inheritance

Vilas Shivmurti Munde v. Somnath Santram Kumbhar & Ors (2018) Bombay High Court

ISSUE:

Whether the suit was maintainable in light of the provisions of Section 36A of the Fragmentation Act?

Whether the Civil Court had jurisdiction to entertain the suit?

RULE:

When a claim involves matters that fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of the competent authority under the Fragmentation Act, the civil court is barred from entertaining such a suit under Section 36A of the Act.

Any dispute regarding land fragmentation must be addressed through a competent authority under the Maharashtra Prevention of Fragmentation and Consolidation of Holdings Act, 1947 (Fragmentation Act) and not through a Civil Court.

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Succession and Inheritance

Kamla Neti (Dead) through LRs v. The Special Land Acquisition Officer & Ors Civil Appeal No 6901 of 2022 decided on 09 December 2022

ISSUE:

Whether the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 applies to Scheduled Tribe members regarding property rights?

Whether the appellant/petitioner being the daughter is entitled to the share in the compensation with respect to the land acquired, on survivorship basis under the provisions of Hindu Succession Act?

RULE:

Section 2(2) of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 excludes Scheduled Tribes from the applicability of the Hindu Succession Act unless notified by the Central Government. As per article 14 and article 21 of the Constitution of India inequality exists in tribal succession laws but legal reform must come from legislature, not judicial interpretation.

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Succession and Inheritance

Jogi Ram v. Suresh Kumar (2022) SCC SC 127

ISSUE:

Whether Ram Devi's limited estate under the Will transformed into absolute ownership by virtue of Section 14(1) of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956?

Whether the prior judgments operate as res judicata, barring re-litigation of the same issues?

RULE:

A Hindu male can validly bequeath a limited estate to a female through a Will as recognized by Section 14(2) of the Hindu Succession Act.

Such a limited estate does not automatically convert into absolute ownership under Section 14(1) of the Hindu Succession Act unless it is in recognition of a pre-existing right, such as maintenance.

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Succession and Inheritance Uncategorized

Khushi Ram & Ors v. Nawal Singh & Ors (2021) SCC SC 128

ISSUE:

Whether the consent decree required registration under Section 17 of the Indian Registration Act, 1908?

Whether the respondents, being heirs from Smt. Jagno's parental side, were considered strangers, thereby invalidating the family settlement?

RULE:

A consent decree that acknowledges or confirms a pre-existing right arising from a family settlement does not require registration under Section 17 of the Indian Registration Act, 1908.

Additionally, heirs from a married woman's parental side are not deemed strangers concerning succession matters under the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, allowing for valid family settlements with such heirs.

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Succession and Inheritance

Bhanwar Singh v. Puran(2008) 3 SCC 87

ISSUE:

Whether Section 8 of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 apply to the facts of this case?

Whether Bhanwar Singh acquired a birthright interest in the property after his birth in 1977?

RULE:

According to Section 19, if two or more heirs succeed together to the property of an intestate, they shall take the property per capita and not per stirpes.

Each one of them is entitled to alienate their share, particularly when different properties were allotted in their favor.

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Succession and Inheritance

Arunachala Gounder v. Ponnuswamy (2022) SCC SC 72

ISSUE:

Whether Marappa Gounder’s property was self-acquired or a joint family property?

Whether his only daughter could inherit the property under Hindu law prevailing before the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 if the property was self-acquired?

Whether after his daughter’s death without any issue, the property would devolve by inheritance or survivorship?

RULE:

A sole daughter is entitled to inherit her father's self-acquired property if he dies intestate, even before the enactment of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956.

However, upon the daughter's death intestate and issueless, the property devolves upon her father's heirs as per Section 15(1)(b) of the Act.

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Succession and Inheritance

Commissioner of Income Tax v. G. Lakshmninarayan AIR 1935 Bom 412

ISSUE:

Whether the income received by right of survivorship by the sole surviving male member of a Hindu undivided family can be taxed in the hands of such male member as his own individual income, or it should be taxed as the income of a Hindu undivided family, for the purposes?

RULE:

With the death of father, the son survived as the sole surviving coparcener. However, because there is no coparcener other than him, it does not follow there is no Hindu Undivided Family. The rights of the female members and other surviving members of the family continue to exist and the possession of family property by sole surviving coparcener is subject to these rights of the other surviving members of the family.

The family is considered to be joint unless and until proved to the contrary. The property was ancestral. But there is a distinction between the HUF and coparcenary. For the purposes of taxation, what is taken into account is the existence of a Hindu Undivided Family and not the existence of coparcenary.

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Succession and Inheritance

State Bank of India v. Ghamandi Ram AIR 1969 SC 1330

ISSUE:

Whether Messer’s Ghamandi Ram Gurbax Rai would fall under the exceptions mentioned in the Notification dated 19-02-1952, exempting “companies or associations or bodies of individuals whether incorporated or not”?
Can a son of a Hindu father and mother married under the Special marriage act be considered as a member of his father’s joint family?

RULE:

The ‘unobstructed heritage’ devolving on such family, with its accretions, is owned by the family, as a corporate body, and one or more branches of that family, each forming a corporate body within a larger corporate body, may possess separate ‘unobstructed heritage’ which with its accretions, may possess separate ‘unobstructed heritage’ which, with its accretions, may be exclusively owned by such branch as a corporate body.

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Succession and Inheritance

Moro Vishwanath v. Ganesh Vithal (1873) 10 Bom. 444

ISSUE:

Whether the plaintiffs are entitled to demand a partition at all assuming them to be members of an undivided family?

RULE:

Suppose, however, that A dies after D, leaving a great-grandson D1 and the two sons of D, E, and F. In this case E and F could not sue D1 for partition of property descending from A, because it is inherited by D1 alone, since, E and F, being sons of a great-grandson, are excluded by D1, A‘s surviving great-grandson, the right of representation extending no further.
Introducing B1, C1, D1, E1, and F1 and B2, C2, E2, E2, and F2, as additional descendants of A, all forming an undivided family, might render the case a little more complicated and affect the value of their shares, but could not destroy the right if any, of E and F to share the joint family property with the other members.

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Succession and Inheritance

CWT v. Late R Sridharan & CWT v. Rosa Maria Steinbicher Sridharan (1976) 4 SCC 489

ISSUE:

Whether a son born out of a wedding of a Hindu Father and a Christian Mother could be said to be a Hindu for the purposes of forming a HUF with the father for Tax purposes?

Can a son of a Hindu father and mother married under the Special Marriage Act can be considered as a member of his father’s joint family?

RULE:

Legitimate children of a Hindu father by a Christian mother who are brought up as Hindus would be governed by Hindu Law. Thus, son of a Hindu father and mother married under the Special Marriage Act will be a member of his father’s joint family.

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