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1946 Supreme(SC) 25
PRIVY COUNCIL [ON APPEAL FROM THEEAST INDIES]
LORD MACMILLAN, MR. M. R. JAYAKAR AND SIR JOHN BEAUMONT.
LALA DUNI CHAND - Appellant
Versus
MUSAMMAT ANAR KALI - Respondents
On Appeal from the High Court at Allahabad.
Decided On : July 9, 1946.
Solicitors for appellants: Hy. S. L. Polak & Co.
Solicitors for respondents Nos. 1, 3 and 4: T. L. Wilson & Co.
The Hindu Law of Inheritance (Amendment) Act, 1929, applies to estates where the original owner died before the Act, provided the succession opens (e.g., upon the death of a widow holding a limited estate) after the Act's commencement, as reversioners hold only a spes successionis.
Headnote:(A) Hindu Law of Inheritance (Amendment) Act, 1929 - Application to reversionary interests - Succession opens upon the death of the widow, not the husband - Reversioners hold a spes successionis or a chance of succession, which is a purely contingent right that may or may not accrue. (Paras 1, 2)
(B) Interpretation of "dying intestate" - The words are a mere description of the status of the deceased and have no reference to the time of the death of a Hindu male; the expression means "in the case of intestacy of a Hindu male." (Para 2)
Facts of the case:
A Hindu male died intestate before the commencement of the 1929 Act, leaving a widow's estate to his mother. The mother died after the Act came into operation. The sisters of the deceased claimed the property under the amended law, which gave them preference over male collaterals. The collaterals contended that the Act did not apply retrospectively to a male who died before its operation.
Findings of Court:
The succession to the estate opened only upon the death of the widow. As the widow died after the Act came into operation, the alteration in the rule of succession brought about by the Act was in full force.
Issues: Whether the Hindu Law of Inheritance (Amendment) Act, 1929, applies to a Hindu male dying intestate before the date of its operation, if he was succeeded by a female heir who died after that date.
Ratio Decidendi: Under Hindu law, reversioners have no vested interest in the estate during the lifetime of the widow, but only a spes successionis. The succession does not open to the heirs of the husband until the termination of the widow's estate. Consequently, the person who is the next reversioner at the time of the widow's death succeeds according to the law in force at that moment.
Result: Appeal dismissed with costs.
Legal Category Hierarchy
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family law
-
hindu law
-
succession
- inheritance
-
succession
-
hindu law
-
property law
- reversionary interests
Judgement
Appeal (No. 26 of 1945) from a judgment and decree of the High Court (August 29, 1941) which affirmed a judgment and decree of the Court of the First Civil Judge of Saharanpur, District Saharanpur (January 10, 1938).
The following facts are taken from the judgment of the Judicial Committee. The parties in the action out of which this appeal arose were Hindus subject to the Mitakshara law of the Benares School, and this appeal involved the con struction of the HINDU LAW of Inheritance (Amendment) Act, 1929 (II. of 1929) which is hereinafter referred to as " the Act." The Act was not expressed to come into operation on a particular day. It received the assent of the Governor General on February 21, 1929, and under the provisions of s. 5 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 (X. of 1897) it came into operation immediately on the expiration of February 20, 1929. The description and preamble of the Act made it clear that the object of the Act was to alter the order of succession of certain persons therein mentioned, namely, a sons daughter, daughters daughter, sister, and sisters son, and to rank them as heirs in the specified order of succession next after a fathers father and before a fathers brother. The Act thus amended the old order of succession in HINDU LAW by introducing certain persons as heirs who had no such place according to the ordinary interpretation of Mitakshara law. The Act was one of the several measures enacted during recent times, in a reformative spirit, with a view to bringing the ancient rules of Hindu succession into conformity with what are regarded as the changing conditions and sentiments of present-day Hindu society. It therefore selected certain relatives and gave them a preferential place in the order of succession, irrespective of their sex, over more remote relatives, on the ground that, judged by the pure test of blood relationship to the deceased owner, they were nearer heirs than those superseded by the provisions of the Act.
The question for determination in this appeal was whether, on a true construction of the Act, it applied only to the case of a Hindu male dying intestate on or after February 21, 1929 (the date of its operation), or whether it also applied to the case of such a male dying intestate before that date, if he was succeeded by a female heir who died after that date. The genealogical table relating to the parties her
in the case was as follows
KANHIYA LAL
|
| |
Sant Lal Chaman Devi
Shambhu Nath (wife)(d. July,
= 1936)
| Sabz Kali (Defendant No. 3) Respondent No. 4 | Raj Kali (Defendant No. 1) Respondent No. 2 | Anar Kali (Plaintiff) Respondent No. 1 | Lilavati (Defendant No. 2) Respondent No. 3 | Dharam Das (d. 1922) succeeded | Sumer Chand
by mother
| Shankar Lal | Dwarka Dass
| | | |
| | | |
Tota Ram Tota Ram Kundan Lal Baru Mall
(adopted son) | |
| | | | |
Shugan Chand Mst. Raji Duni Chand Qabul Gobind
(Defndant (Defendant No. Chand Prasad
No. 8) widow 4) Appellant (Defendant (Defendant
of Ram No. 1) No. 6) No. 5)
Swarup, son Appellant Appellant
of Kundan No. 3 No. 2
Lal, died
pending
proceedings,
representative
s are
appellants
|
Uggar Son
(Defendant No.
7) Respondent
No. 3
The facts giving rise to this litigation were as follows.
There was a partition by means of an arbitration award between Shambhu Nath, Ganpat Rai, Shankar Lal and Dwarka Dass. At that time Kanihya Lal and Sant Lal appear to have been dead. Under the award Shambhu Nath received as his share a certain set of property and a half share in another set of property. On Shambhu Naths death, his only surviving son, Dharam Das, succeeded to his properties, Sumer Chand having pre-deceased Shambhu Nath. Dharam Das died in 1922, before the date of the Act, leaving neither a widow nor descendants. His mother, Mst. Chaman Devi, succeeded him as his heir, taking a Hindu widos estate. He also left four sisters, Msts. Sabz Kali, Raj Kali, Anar Kali and Lilavati. Chaman Devi died in July, 1936 (after the date of the Act),
