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2002 Supreme(MP) 455

High Court Of Madhya Pradesh
S. SAMVATSAR
CHANDRAKANTA - Appellant
Versus
ASHOK KUMAR - Respondents
C. R. 575 Of 1997
Decided On : 04/18/2002

Advocates Appeared:
P.C.Chandil

The Hindu Succession Act, 1956 abolished the theory of birth-right and established that a son gets a share in the property only after the death of his father.

Headnote:

Hindu Succession Act - Property Rights - The court found that the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 abolished the theory of birth-right and established that a son gets a share in the property only after the death of his father. This influenced the court's decision to vacate the injunction order and set aside the previous judgments.

Fact of the Case:

The respondents filed a suit for declaration and permanent injunction against the petitioners regarding agricultural land purchased from joint family funds. The lower courts granted an injunction, but the revision court found material irregularity and vacated the injunction order.

Finding of the Court:

The court found that the property was purchased from joint family funds and that the respondents had no prima facie right, title, or interest in the property as long as the father of the petitioners was alive. The court vacated the injunction order based on the principle of lis pendens.

Issues: The main issue was the ownership and rights to the suit property, specifically in relation to the Hindu Succession Act, 1956.

Ratio Decidendi: The court's decision was influenced by the interpretation of the Hindu Succession Act, which abolished the theory of birth-right and established that a son gets a share in the property only after the death of his father.

Final Decision: The revision was allowed, and the injunction orders passed by the lower courts were vacated. There were no orders as to costs.

S. SAMVATSAR, J.

( 1 ) THIS revision is filed by the defendants against whom an injunction order is passed by both the courts below.

( 2 ) THE facts giving rise to this revision are as under: -respondents No. l and 2 filed a suit for declaration and parmanent injunction against the petitioners and respondents No. 3 and 4, regarding agricultural land bearing survey no. 66 and 94, situated at village Badokhar, district Morana. The said property was purchased in the name of Madangopal by regis -. tered sale deed dated 21. 7. 1944. Petitioner no. 2 and respondent No. 3 are sons of madangopal, while respondents JSo. 1 and 2 are grandsons of Madangopal. They are claiming their right to the suit property through their father/respondent No. 3.

( 3 ) THE suit is filed on the allegation that father of Madangopal, Thakurdas had retired from Calcutta Jute Mill and had received some retiral benefits at the time of his retirement. The suit property was purchased from the said amount and is thus purchased from the joint family funds. Both the Courts below prima facie found that this property was purchased out of funds received by Thakurdas, who has retired from Calcutta Jute Mill and, therefore, respondents No. 1, 2 and 3 have interest in the suit property.

( 4 ) AFTER perusing both these judgments, in my opinion, the Courts below have acted with material irregularity in exercise of their jurisdiction and in granting an injunction against madangopal and petitioners. The respondents no. l and 2 were aged 33 years and 28 years respectively at the time of institution of the suit and, thus, appears to have born after 1956. The present suit is filed in the year 1996. In 1956 Hindu Succession Act has come into force.

( 5 ) THE Supreme Court has considered the impact of Hindu Succession Act, 1956 in its judgment in the base of Commissioner of wealth-tax, Kanpuretc. v. Chander Sen etc. , and has held as under ;-"19. It is necessary to bear in mind the preamble to the Hindu Succession Act, 1956. The Preamble states that it was. an Act to amend and codify the law relating to intestate succession among hindus. 20. In view of the Preamble to the Act i. . e, that to modify where necessary and to codify the law, in our opinion it is not possible when Schedule indicates heirs in Class 1 and only includes son and does not include son's son but does include son of a predeceased son, to say, that when son inherits the property in the situation contemplated by S. 8 he takes it as Karta of his own undivided family. The Gujarat High Court's view noted above, if accepted, would mean that though the son of a predeceased son and not the son of a son who is intended to be excluded under s. 8 to inherit, the latter would by applying the old Hindu law get a right by birth of the said property contrary to the scheme outlined in S. 8. "

( 6 ) THE Supreme Court in its judgment in the case of Yudhishtar v. Ashok Kumar, has again considered the question and has held as under: -. "10. This question has been considered by this Court in Commr of Wealth Tax, kanpur v. Chander Sen, (1986) 3 SCC 567 : (AIR 1986 SC 1753), where one of us (Sabyasachi Mukharji, J.) observed that under the Hindu Law, the moment a son is born, he gets a share in father's property and becomes part of the coparcenary, His right accrues to him not on the death of the father or inheritance from the father but with the very fact of his birth. Normally, therefore, whenever the father gets a property from whatever source from the grandfather or from any other source, be it separate property or not, his son should have a share in that and it will become part of the joint Hindu family of his son and grandson and other members who form joint Hindu family with him. This court observed that this position has been affected by Section 8 of the Hindu succession Act, 1956 and. therefore, after the Act, when the son inherited the property in the situation contemplated by Section 8, he does not take it as Kar of his ow







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