ISSUE:
Whether a Hindu woman is entitled to become an absolute owner of the property which she had alienated upon its reconveyance to her by the transferee after the enforcement of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956.
Whether the word "possessed" in Section 14 talk about the actual possession or the mere acquisition of a right or interest in the property?
RULE:
Section 14 (1) of The Hindu Succession Act 1956 states that any property possessed by a female Hindu, whether acquired before or after the commencement of this Act, shall be held by her as full owner thereof and not as a limited owner. The explanation given with the sub-section says that In this sub-section, “property” includes both movable and immovable property acquired by a female Hindu by inheritance or devise, or at a partition, or in lieu of maintenance or arrears of maintenance, or by a gift from any person, whether a relative or not, before, at or after her marriage, or by her own skill or exertion, or by purchase or by prescription, or in any other manner whatsoever and also any such property held by her as stridhana immediately before the commencement of this Act.