SC Extends Daughter's Coparcenary Rights to Pre-1956 Settlements

Facts

A three-judge Supreme Court bench was asked to decide if the principles from Vineeta Sharma v. Rakesh Sharma (2020) could apply to a family property settlement executed before the Hindu Succession Act was enacted in 1956. The settlement in question had excluded daughters from any share in the ancestral coparcenary property. The daughters challenged this historical exclusion, arguing their right as coparceners is established by birth and cannot be nullified by an old settlement that predates the codification of Hindu succession law.

Holding

The Court held that family settlements that excluded daughters from a share of coparcenary property, even those executed before the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, came into force, are now reviewable and can be reopened.

Reasoning

Extending the doctrine laid down in Vineeta Sharma, the Court reiterated that a daughter's right as a coparcener is acquired by birth, creating an unobstructed heritage. This right is not contingent on her father being alive when the 2005 amendment to the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 was passed. The bench reasoned that since this right is fundamental and dates back to birth, it cannot be extinguished by a prior family arrangement made when the prevailing law was discriminatory. By declaring that the 2005 amendment has retrospective effect, the Vineeta Sharma judgment implicitly grants courts the power to re-examine transactions that conflict with this now-recognized right, irrespective of when they occurred.

Practical Impact

This landmark ruling empowers daughters to challenge even very old family arrangements that denied them their inheritance. It significantly expands the retrospective application of equal coparcenary rights. Real estate transactions involving ancestral properties, especially those with titles tracing back to pre-1956 settlements, may now face fresh legal challenges. Buyers must exercise extreme caution and conduct thorough due diligence on the rights of female heirs under Section 6 of the Hindu Succession Act, as previously settled divisions may be undone, impacting the validity of current titles.

Sources

• Supreme Court Civil Appeal 4012/2024
• Hindu Succession Act, 1956 (Section 6)