Hindu Law

Adoption has the effect of transferring the adopted son from his biological family into the adoptive family, it confers upon the adopted son the same rights and privileges in the family of the adopter as a legitimate biological son would have had

After the adoption, adopted son lost all the rights of a son in his biological family including right of claiming any share in the estate of his biological father or relations, or any share in the coparcenary property

Only cases in which the adopted son is not entitled to the full rights of a biological son in the adoptive family are; (i) if a son is born to the adoptive father after the adoption; and (ii) if a boy is adopted by a disqualified heir

Further, subject to no son having been born to the adoptive father after the adoption, an adopted son is entitled to inherit in the adoptive family as fully as if he were a biological son, both in the paternal and in the maternal line

Similarly the adoptive father and his relation are entitled to inherit from adopted son, as if he were a son born in the adoptive family, hence, it can be inferred that for all intents and purposes, the adopted son would have status as a biological son in the family into which he is adopted and he would be considered as a descendant of the family.

According to Hindu text writers, gift for religious and charitable purposes fall into two divisions, 'Ishta' and 'Purta' which is a classification which has come down to our times

'Ishta' denotes sacrifices and sacrificial gifts of alms while 'Purta' refers to charitable property.

Rule of succession would apply to the property held in absolute severalty by the last owner.

If at the time of his death the owner of property was a member of a joint and undivided family i.e. 'coparcenary' then his undivided interest in the coparcenary property would devolve on his coparceners by survivorship.

Window would take only a limited interest i.e. the widow's estate' in the estate of her husband and in the event of her death the estate would be inherited not by her heirs but by the next heirs of her husband i.e. `reversioners'

Widow might alienate her life-interest in the estate but she had no power to dispose of the corpus of the immovable property inherited by her except when there was legal necessity or when the alienee had acted honestly in the belief that the necessity existed or when there was such consent of the next reversioners to the alienation and when it was a surrender by her of her whole interest in the whole estate in favour of the nearest reversioner at the time of alienation.

Daughters during life time of their mother under Hindu law of succession were not entitled to inherit from the estate of their father

Such right of daughters would accrue only after the death of their mother

Daughters would succeed if their mother died daring the lifetime of their father

Heritable right would accrue to the daughters not on the death of their father but after the death of their mother though they were not heirs of their mother but of their father

Daughter of deceased was not entitled to inherit from the estate as her mother and the widow of the deceased was alive and not because that she got married during the lifetime of deceased

Movable and immovable properties left by the deceased would be inherited by his widow and sons

Widow would take only a limited interest i.e. 'the widow's estate' in the estate of her husband and in the event of her death the estate would be inherited not by her heirs but by the next heirs of her husband i.e. 'reversioners'

Widow had filed her affidavit surrendering and relinquishing her "life interest" in favour of her sons/other legal heirs of the deceased

Movable and immovable properties left by the deceased be divided amongst his two sons

Application for grant of succession certificate and letters of administration was allowed in circumstances.

Property of Guru devolved upon Chela in his life time and in case the Guru had not nominated his son as Guru in his life time, the property would devolve upon the existing chela of the Guru.

Such document creating grant of land for religious purpose is permissible under Hindu Law.

Expression "Sada Varat" denotes public or charitable purpose.

Elaborate procedure for such purpose existed which was neither followed nor any right was shown to have been established on the basis of will

Validity of will by the widow of original owner of property was also riot shown

Will was not proved in circumstances.

After the death of owner, devolution under Hindu Law connotes perception of joint property in which all legal heirs inherit equal shares.

Hindu widow having a limited power of alienation can alienate her estate for legal necessity; or with the consent of next reversioners to the alienation; such consent would, however, raise a presumption that the transaction in question, was a proper one and; the alienation should indicate that same was a surrender by the widow of her whole estate in favour of the nearest reversioner or reversioners at the time of alienation and alienation should be made for the benefit of the estate.

[Words and phrases].

Status of a female under Hindu Law as compared to status under Islamic law.

On consideration of evidence presumption of jointness in such a case stood rebutted.

Words "by inheritance" applied to the office of trusteeship which was governed by the rule of succession or inheritance.

Dedication of land for public temple is not' a gift within the meaning of S.122 and would not require to be effected by off registered instrument.

Mohants are also capable of owning private/ personal property.

Life interest of widow terminates on her death and property of a Hindu, once again reverts back to reversioners. Rangaswami v. Nachiappa A I R 1981 P C 196 ref.

Income from property-Joint family property-Property not ancestral property but acquired property-Coparceners and coparcenery property-Accumulation of income of ancestral property Property purchased or acquired out of income or with assistance of ancestral property and property purchased from such proceeds, held, were ancestral ,property-Son, grandson and great grandson acquire a vested interest not only in income and accretions of ancestral property which accrued after their birth, but also in income and 'accretions which accrued prior to their death.

S. 22-Hindu Law-Hindu coparcenary, a norrower body than hindu joint family-Held : Coparcenary includes only those persons who acquire by link an interest in joint or coparcenary property extending to three generations next to holder in unbroken descent namely sons, grandsons and great grandsons of holder-Where a coparcenary was established consisting of son and grandson, none of whom was ever evacuee, share of holder, held, automatically devolved on his death to sole surviving coparcener-Property in dispute never being evacuee, held further, was illegally sold by Settlement Department.

And Trust Act (I1 of 1882),-Joint family concept as understood by Hindu Law - Alien to Muhammadan Jurisprudence-Several Muslim co-sharers living together and some of them acquiring property, no presumption arises as to such acquisition having been for benefit of members of family-Acquisition, however where made by managing member in fiduciary relationship with other members applicability of Trust Act cannot be ruled out and burden lies on managing members to prove acquisition having been made during their management from their independent source of income, others having no interest therein Burden cannot be discharged by merely producing sale deeds and revenue records-Appellants not producing any evidence to prove any independent or separate source of income, property, held, purchased from funds of family.-[Burden of proof].

Trust-Property dedicated to a temple-Held, trust property for religious purposes.

Widow takes a limited estate in property inherited by her as widow's estate-Widow cannot alienate her life interest in such property except under legal necessity-Alienation by widow can be impeached only by reversioner and by State claiming by escheat in a civil Court-Property cannot automatically be escheated to State-Order passed by Member, Board of Revenue on application of tenants of property, declaring widow to have died issueless, and escheating property to State -Held, without lawful authority and as such void illegal and of no legal effect-Constitution of Pakistan (1973), Art. 199.-[Succession].

Joint Hindu Family-Family settlement-Suit property standing exclusively in name of G in his individual capacity and not as karta of joint Hindu Family-T not big coparcener could not have any antecedent title to any undivided share in property-Oral petition or family arrangement even if accepted, inference irresistible that by allotment of property to T new and distinct title conferred on her and no title could pass to her in absence of registration-G, held, in circumstances, continued to remain real owner and R acquired valid title from him as transferee.

Life interest of widow-Petitioner having life interest in house -dying-Interest of petitioner, held, extinguished and her cause of action did not survive in favour of her successors-in-interest, if any.

Endowment-Creation of public trust under Hindu Law-Ingredients-Mere fact that revenue or tax leviable on property was exempted from realisation because part of income from property was expended on maintenance of temple-Would not prove that property was dedicated as trust-Property acquired by a guru from his own private sources and inherited by his chela-No presumption that property in circumstance was religious trust property-Displaced Persons (Compensation and Rehabilitation) Act (XXV1I1 of 1958), S. 4(2).

Hindu law-Widow's estate-True concept. The true concept of a widow's estate in Hindu law is that she notionally represents her husband, as if, her husband is (for the purposes of the management and user of his properties) kept alive in her, and it is for this reason that it is said that during the time the widow is alive or does not re-marry, the whole estate of her husband vests in her absolutely as if the husband is for all intents and purposes alive in her. Hindu law knows nothing of estate for life, or in tail or in fee. A Hindu widow is neither a trustee for the reversioners nor do the reversioners have any present interest In the properties until the widow's estate terminates. Their position is at best that of a person having a spes successionis or an expectancy of succession. [pp. 805, 80618 & G'

Hinda widow's right in property inherited from husband-Limited for life-Cannot be disposed of by will-Transferee of such property on basis of will executed by widow-Cannot file ejectment proceeding against tenants of property.

Undivided family-Partition effected bona fide and in legal manner-Cannot be disregarded only because there was no contemporaneous registered. document to that effect.

Hindu Law -Undivided family Partition effected bona fide and in legal manner-Cannot be disregarded only because there was no contemporaneous registered document to that effect.

Hindu Law -Religious endowment-Debuttar property-Donor himself being donee (shebait of' deity) - Property allegedly transferred through registered deed in name of deity No evidence however of formal dedication to deity and no overt act proved to support valid transfer in favour of deity-Debuttar deed, in circumstances, held, cannot be accepted to have been acted' upon.

Endowment-essential ingredients,

Hindu Law Endowment-Public and private religious endowments- Distinction- Dedication, in case of private endowment, may be put to an end by consensus of family.

Guardianship-Mother natural guardian of minors in absence of father.

Hindu Law -Alienation-Widow acquiring property in lieu of or with part of her deceased husband's estate-Property so acquired; accretion to estate of her husband-Question as to how widow had dealt with the property-Irrelevant-Allegation that after acquisition she treated it as her own personal property-Burden to establish allegation lies on person asserting same.

Hindu Law -Succession-Inheritance to males according to Dayabhaga (Bengal School)-Doctrine of spiritual efficacy-Not always sole governing principle-Propinquity or proximity of birth, as in Mitakshara, may also be taken into consideration in cases not contemplated by Dayabhaga-Principle of spiritual benefit, i.e. capacity to offer funeral cakes (pindas), important only in determining question of succession and not of inheritance-All relations who are Bandhus under Mitakshara are Bandhus and heirs in Bengal as well-Sister's sort's sons, in absence of other preferential heirs, entitled to inherit property of deceased male Hindu.

Hindu Law No female can be a coparcener-No female can claim any right "as a coparcener" under West Pakistan Land Reforms Regulation, 1959, [Martial Law Regulation (C. M. G. A's.) No. 64].

No presumption that remaining members continued joint or separated utter se-Question to be decided on facts of particular case.

Hindu Law -Debuttar estate, creation of-No special mode prescribed by Hindu Law-Oral declaration of debuttarMust be proved by cogent evidence as to conduct of parties and user of property dedicated-[Menakuru Dasaratharami Reddi and another v. Duddukuru Shubba Rao and others A I R 1957 S C 797 ref.]

"Temple"-Family idol placed in a room of house does not make the room or house a "temple".

Hindu Law Hindu Law-Adoption-General incidents of.

Hindu Law - Mutt Akhara - Debutter - TempleMohunt - Shebait - Distinction - Akhara, a private institution.

Hindu Law -Adoption-Inheritance-Widow's power to adopt may or may not be exercised-Non-exercise of right-No question of divesting or vesting of property-Adoption may result in divesting of property-Objects-To secure, spiritual benefits and an heir to perpetuate adoptor's name-Property vested in widow or her mother, divested subject to valid transfer but no effect on properties already vested in deities-Right to shebaitship inheritable like other secular properties if adopted son predeceased adoptive mother Creation of successive life-interest, valid.

Hindu Law -Dayabhaga School-Member of joint Hindu family purchasing property in his son's name (who has no fund of his own)-Property held that of the joint family.

Hindu Law Hindu Law-Partition of joint family property - Marriage expenses of unmarried daughter-Whether will come out of joint finally property or out of share of her father in joint family property-Position under Dayabhaga and Mitakshara Schools.

Hindu Law Hindu Law-Joint or self-acquired property-Deceased giving considerable control by Will over property to wife before passing of Hindu Women's Rights to Property Act (XYIII of 1937)-Property deemed to be self-acquired.

Hindu Law -Joint and self-acquired property-Mere existence of joint family-No presumption that property in hand of any member of such family is joint-Burden of proving property to be joint-Lies on party asserting it to be so-Members in possession of substantial nucleus of joint property, alleging self-acquisition of part of property-Burden on such member to prove self-acquisition.

Hindu Law Mitakshara School Co-parceners do not own definite shares in co-parcenary-[Sri Ram v. Collector, Lahore A I R 1942 Lah. 173 and Approved Seetaramier v. Ram Suba Aiyan 11 Moors Ind. App. 75].

Alienation by widow-Necessity-Existence of immediate female reversioner does not preclude presumptive reversionary heir to full ownership of estate from maintaining suit for declaration that alienation by widow was not justified by legal necessity-Impleading of intervening female reversioner not necessary.