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Saheb Reddy v. Sharanappa and Ors.

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 901 of 2014)Decided 16 Nov 2016
Civil Appeal No. 901 of 2014
Justice Anil R. Dave · Justice L. Nageswara Rao

Background

The plaintiff sued for partition of family property, claiming his share as grandson of one Sharanappa Gaded, who died intestate in 1957 leaving a widow and three daughters. Years later the widow adopted a son (the appellant's wife's father, defendant no.1) in 1971. The dispute was over how much of the family property the plaintiff was entitled to, given the later adoption, and the trial court, first appellate court and High Court each arrived at different shares.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that under the proviso to Section 12 of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956, an adopted child cannot divest any person of property that had already vested in them before the adoption. Since the original owner died in 1957, 14 years before the 1971 adoption, his widow and three daughters had already become absolute owners of their shares, unaffected by the later adoption. The Court therefore restored the first appellate court's allocation (plaintiff entitled to 5/64th share, adopted son 1/16th share) and set aside the High Court's judgment, which had wrongly reinstated the trial court's different calculation.

Lesson Learnt

Adopting a child does not retroactively take away property rights that other family members already legally acquired before the adoption took place: inheritance that has already vested is protected by law even from a later adoption into the family.

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

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