208TH LAW COMMISSION REPORT - A CRITICAL REFLECTION

Abstract

The Hindu Codified law or the Hindu Code is the primary source of governance for all Hindus in India. Its constituents include four major acts viz. the Hindu Marriage Act 1955, the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act 1956, the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act 1956 and the Hindu Succession Act 1956. After their promulgation, these acts have significantly altered the Hindu way of living by providing a firm pedestal of written statutes where legal complications and issues related to marriage, adoption, and succession of the property could be properly adjudicated. The Hindu Succession Act, 1956 or the HSA was edited in 2005 through the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005, which revolutionized the law relating to succession or transfer of property in Joint Hindu families (or HJFs) governed under the Mitakshara law. Before the 2005 amendment, under Section 6 of the HSA, if a Hindu male coparcener in an HJF died prematurely, only the next male coparcener, for example, the deceased person’s son, was entitled to a share in that coparcenary property. The statute purely failed to consider females as eligible beneficiaries, consequently keeping them devoid of any share in the family property. The amendment inserted a new revised Section 6, which recognized the property rights of female siblings, specifically the daughters of deceased male coparceners, and placed the value of their share in their father’s property at par with their male counterparts. A daughter, now being a “Hindu Mitakshara Coparcener”, became as much eligible to receive a share in her father’s property as was a son, essentially sharing their rights as well as any liabilities that might arise concerning the said property in the foreseeable future.