Daughter entitled to inherit self-acquired property of her father: SC

Arunachala Gounder (Dead) By Lrs. Vs Ponnusamy and Ors. (Supreme Court of India)

1. The Supreme Court on Thursday said the daughters of a male Hindu dying without a will would be entitled to inherit self-acquired and other properties obtained in the partition by the father.

2. The court also said that such daughters would get preference over other collateral members of the family such as sons and daughters of brothers of the deceased father. The judgement dealt with the property rights of Hindu women and widows under the Hindu Succession Act.

3. “If a property of a male Hindu dying intestate (without a will) is a self-acquired property or obtained in the partition of a coparcenary or a family property, the same would devolve by inheritance and not by survivorship, and a daughter of such a male Hindu would be entitled to inherit such property in preference to other collaterals (such as sons/daughters of brothers of deceased father),” a bench of justices S Abdul Nazeer and Krishna Murari said in a 51-page judgment.

4. The court also dealt with the question of whether such property will devolve onto the daughter upon the death of her father or on to “father’s brother’s son by survivorship” in the absence of any other legal heir.

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