Hindu Succession Act | Hindu Woman Can Claim Full Ownership Of Property Under S.14(1) Only If She Possesses It : Supreme Court

The Supreme Court held that for a female Hindu to claim absolute ownership of an undivided property of a Hindu Undivided Family, she should have been in possession of the property.The bench comprising Justices BR Gavai and Sandeep Mehta, after referring to the statutory scheme and precedents, observed :“It is clear that for establishing full ownership on the undivided joint family. The bench comprising Justices BR Gavai and Sandeep Mehta, after referring to the statutory scheme and precedents, observed : “It is clear that for establishing full ownership on the undivided joint family estate under Section 14 of the Succession Act the Hindu female must not only be possessed of the property but she must have acquired the property and such acquisition must be either by way of inheritance or devise, or at a partition or “in lieu of maintenance or arrears of maintenance” or by gift or be her own skill or exertion, or by purchase or by prescription.” The judgment authored by Justice Mehta cited the precedents M. Sivadasan through Lrs. Section 14 of the Hindu Succession Act required the female Hindu to fulfill two conditions to claim full ownership over the undivided HUF property i.e., firstly, the female Hindu shall be in possession of the property, and secondly, she has the acquired the property by way of inheritance or devise, or at a partition or “in lieu of maintenance or arrears of maintenance” or by gift or by her skill or exertion, or by purchase or by prescription. On the point of whether the adopted son/respondent of the deceased female widow could claim right in the suit property by way of filing the partition suit, the Court held that since the female deceased widow was never in possession of the suit property, therefore the suit for partition claiming absolute ownership under Section 14 of the Hindu Succession Act could not be maintained by her adopted son.