Succession to Female Hindu

Prof. (Dr.) Vijender Kumar Professor of Law & Commonwealth Fellow NALSAR University of Law, Hyd. vijenderkumar@yahoo.com

Succession to Female Hindu:



15. General rules of succession in the case of female Hindus. (1) The property of a female Hindu dying intestate shall devolve according to the rules set out in Section 16, (a) firstly, upon the sons and daughters (including the children of any pre-deceased son or daughter) and the husband; (b) secondly, upon the heirs of the husband; (c) thirdly, upon the mother and father; (d) fourthly, upon the heirs of the father; and (e) lastly, upon the heirs of the mother.

Succession to Female Hindu:

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in subsec. (1), (a) any property inherited by a female Hindu from her father or mother shall devolve, in the absence of any son or daughter of the deceased (including the children of any pre-deceased son or daughter) not upon the other heirs referred to in sub-section (1) in the order specified therein, but upon the heirs of the father; and

Succession to Female Hindu:

(b) any property inherited by a female Hindu from her husband or from her father-in-law shall devolve, in the absence of any son or daughter of the deceased (including the children of any pre-deceased son or daughter) not upon the other heirs referred to in subsection (1) in the order specified therein, but upon the heirs of the husband.

Prospective operation: Property of a female Hindushall devolve:



The language of the Section and particularly the words shall devolve plainly indicate that the Section is prospective in its operation. It applies where death of a female intestate and consequently devolution of her property takes place after the commencement of the Act and does not govern succession to the property of a female Hindu whose death took place before the Act came in to force. In the latter case all questions of inheritance would be determined according to the previous law.

Order of Succession:


The effect of the rules laid down in this Section is that the property of a female intestate will devolve as summarised in the following propositions: 1. the general order of succession laid down in entries (a) to (e) in sub-section (1) applies to all property of a female intestate however acquired except in case of property inherited by her from her father, mother, husband or father-in-law.

Contd


2. In case of a female intestate leaving a son or a daughter or a child of a predeceased son or of a predeceased daughter, that is leaving any issue, all her property, however acquired, devolves on such issue regardless of the source of acquisition of the property and such issues take the property simultaneously; and if the husband of the intestate is alive they take simultaneously with him in accordance with entry (a). In such a case subsection (2) does not at all come into operation.

Contd


3. In a case of a female intestate dying without issue but leaving her husband, the husband will take all her property, except property inherited by her from her father or mother which will revert to the heirs of the father in existence at the time of her death. 4. in case of female intestate dying without issue property inherited by her from her husband or fatherin-law (the husband being dead), will go to the heirs of the husband and not in accordance with the general order of succession laid down in sub-section (1).

Contd


5. in case of a female intestate dying without issue property inherited by her from her father or mother will revert to the heirs of the father in existence at the time of her death and not in accordance with the general order of succession laid down in sub-section (1). Propositions (3), (4) and (5) above state the special order of succession which is confined only to property acquired by the female intestate from the specified sources. Proposition (2) is the obvious corollary to the statement of law in the whole Section.

Succession to Female Hindu:



16. Order of succession and manner of distribution among heirs of a female Hindu. The order of succession among the heirs referred to in Section 15 shall be, and the distribution of the intestates property among those heirs shall take place according to the following rules, namely: Rule 1. Among the heirs specified in subsection (1) of Section 15, those in one entry shall be preferred to those in any succeeding entry and those including in the same entry shall take simultaneously.

Succession to Female Hindu:

Rule 2. If any son or daughter of the intestate had pre-deceased the intestate leaving his or her own children alive at the time of the intestate's death, the children of such son or daughter shall take between them the share which such son or daughter would have taken if living at the intestate's death.

Succession to Female Hindu:

Rule 3. The devolution of the property of the intestate on the heirs referred to in clauses (b), (d) and (e) of sub-section (1) and in subsection (2) to Section 15 shall be in the same order and according to the same rules as would have applied if the property had been the father's or the mother's or the husband's as the case may be, and such person had died intestate in respect thereof immediately after the intestate's death.

Bhagat Ram v. Teja Singh, AIR 1999 SC 1944



The Supreme Court interpreting the scope and applicability of Section 15 and Section 16 of this Act and held that succession to the property of a female Hindu dying intestate is governed either by rules in Section 15 (1) read with Section 16 or Section 15 (2) depending upon the nature of the property and the rules in both the sub-sections are mutually exclusive. Since the deceased inherited the property from her mother and dies intestate leaving no son or daughter, her property devolves on the heirs of her father as laid down in Section 15 (2) (d) and not on the heirs of her husband as laid down in Section 15 (2) (b).