Daughter is entitled to equal property rights under amended Hindu Succession Act: Supreme Court
The Supreme Court on Tuesday said in its order that a daughter is entitled to equal property rights under the amended Hindu Succession Act. The Court also said that daughters will have the right over parental property even if the coparcener had died prior to the coming into force of the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005.
The Court held that a daughter, living or dead, as on the date of the amendment, shall be entitled to a share in her father’s property. It means that even if the daughter was not alive on the date of the amendment, her children could claim their rightful portion.
The court recognised that just like sons, the amendment also extended the status of the coparcener to a daughter, allowing her to enjoy the same rights as a son.
This landmark judgment has now settled the ambiguity around the nature and extent of a daughter’s rights to a HUF property. The bench asked the courts concerned, where several matters remained pending for want of an authoritative ruling by the Supreme Court, to take up and dispose them of within six months.
