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Danamma @ Suman Surpur & Anr. v. Amar & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2018 INSC 84Decided 1 Feb 2018
Civil Appeal Nos. 188-189 of 2018
Justice A.K. Sikri · Justice Ashok Bhushan

Background

Gurulingappa Savadi, head of a Hindu joint family, died in 2001 leaving behind two sons, two daughters (the appellants, including Danamma), and his widow. His grandson filed a partition suit in 2002, arguing that the daughters were not coparceners (joint owners by birth) because they had been born before the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 came into force, and that they had in any case relinquished their share at marriage. Both the trial court and the Karnataka High Court agreed with this view and denied the daughters any share, triggering the daughters' appeal to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the 2005 amendment to Section 6 of the Hindu Succession Act made daughters coparceners "by birth," in the same manner as sons, and that this right applies to any daughter who was alive on 9.9.2005 (the amendment's effective date) regardless of whether she was born before or after the original 1956 Act. Relying on its own precedent that a partition is not final until a final decree is passed, the Court held that since no final decree had been passed before the 2005 amendment came into force, the daughters' rights as coparceners had crystallised and could not be defeated by the pending suit. The Court therefore allowed the appeal, held that each daughter was entitled to a 1/5th share of the joint family property along with the two sons and the widow's share, and directed the trial court to draw up the partition decree accordingly.

Lesson Learnt

Under the 2005 amendment, a daughter in a Hindu joint family becomes a coparcener (an owner with rights equal to a son) by birth, and this right applies to her even if a partition suit was already pending when the amendment came into force, as long as a final partition decree had not yet been passed.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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