The article highlights the importance of the latest Supreme Court Judgement making daughter coparcener in own right by birth removing the conditions laid down in the previous judgement.
Background
- In Vineeta Sharma v. Rakesh Sharma (2020), the Supreme Court held that a coparcener’s daughter would become a coparcener in her own right by birth.
Amendment in 2005 and related SC judgement
- There is a difference between rights conferred by the Hindu Succession Act of 1956 and the amendment to that act in 2005.
- In 1956 Act, equal right of succession at par with a son was given to a daughter, but only after the demise of the father or mother.
- The 2005 amendment gave the right to property to a daughter in a joint Hindu family during the lifetime of the father.
- In Prakash v. Phulavati 2005, the Supreme Court decided on the prospectivity or retrospectivity of the law creating coparcenary rights in favour of daughters.
- It created a condition that the rights under the amendment are applicable only to living daughters of living coparceners as on September 9, 2005; however, it gave no reason as to why this was chosen as a condition.
- The status of a daughter to be subject to her father being alive is apparently a mistake.
- The death of an individual should not determine the rights of their heirs.
- If any right had accrued in the daughter’s favour by a legislation, the same can’t be disturbed by death of her father.
What the SC said in latest judgement
- In the present judgment, Vineeta Sharma v. Rakesh Sharma , the court rightly held that as laid down in Section 6 (1) (a), daughter is to be a coparcener by birth; so there is no question of being prospective or retrospective.
- It is the physical status that matters and should not be linked to a date.
- Even in the case of unregistered partition deeds executed before December 20, 2004, the court has opened a new window for daughters.
- Daughters can claim a right even in an unregistered partition deed which has not been proved conclusively.
Conclusion
There is a need to examine all the existing laws and wherever discriminatory practices exist, they need to be amended appropriately.
