What Are The Changes Introduced Under Hindu Succession

WHAT ARE THE CHANGES INTRODUCED UNDER HINDU SUCCESSION
(AMENDMENT) ACT 2005
 Hindu Succession Act 1956 has already brought in profound changes in the pre-existing
succession law.
 It laid down a uniform system of succession to all Hindus irrespective of castes, schools
and sub schools.
 Heirs of a male Hindu are categorized as Class I, Class II, Agnates and Cognates.
 Daughter, mother and widow are declared as class I heir and gave them equal succession
rights in the separate properties of their father, husband, and son.
 A different scheme is evolved for succession to a female Hindu’s property.
 The limited estate given to women in 1937 Act has been enlarged into absolute estate
under S.14(1).
 Daughter has a right to share in the dwelling house of the father along with her brothers.
(S.23)
 Theory of notional partition was introduced in S.6 to convert the undivided interest of
a coparcener into his separate interest.
 Rule of survivorship has been diluted in the presence of female heirs or male heirs
through female heir in class I category.
However, there were still some gender unjust provisions in the Hindu Succession Act 1956. In
order to rectify them and make the law more gender sensible, amendment took place in the Act
in the form of Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act 2005. The significant changes are:
(1) Daughter as coparcener: According to S.6 (1), daughter, either married or unmarried,
is declared as coparcener by birth in her own right in the same manner as the son. She
will have the same rights and liabilities in the coparcenary property as the son. She can
hold that property with absolute disposal power.
(2) The doctrine of pious obligation is abolished. According to this doctrine, it is the duty
of the son, son’s son and son’s son’s son to discharge the undischarged debts of their
father, father’s father and father’s father’s father, contacted during their life time. It is
a religious belief that one who dies without discharging his debts in this world, his soul
will not reach heaven until they are discharged. Hence the obligation falls on the male
lineal descendants up to four generation to discharge them and enable the soul to reach
heaven. Now in the 2005 Amendment Act, this liability is removed. According to S.6
(4), the creditor cannot file a suit against son, son’s son or son’s son under doctrine of
pious obligation to recover the debt contacted by their father or fore fathers.
(3) Deletion of S.4(2): Originally under S.4(2) of 1956 Act, agricultural holdings were
excluded from the operation of Hindu Succession Act 1956. Now it has been deleted.
Rules of HS Act will apply even to agricultural holdings. Now daughters can also have
a claim in the agricultural holdings of their father like his other intestate properties.
(4) Omission of S.23: S. 23 of 1956 Act provided a special rule in case of dwelling house.
If a dwelling house was succeeded by daughters and sons as class I heirs, daughters
could not ask for partition of their share, unless the sons chose to divide their share.
However, they could reside in it provided they were unmarried, deserted or separated
or widowed. It was felt as a great injustice to daughters in general and to married
daughters in particular. Hence S.23 is omitted in 2005. Now daughters, irrespective of
their marital status, can demand a share in the dwelling house even if their brothers
prefer to stay joint.
(5) Omission of S.24: Widow of the pre-deceased son, widow of the pre-deceased son of
the pre-deceased son and brother’s widow are disqualified to inherit to the properties
of the propositus if they had remarried on the day of opening of succession i.e. death of
the propositus. Now this provision is omitted as superfluous. Despite omission, the
position is same. This is established in Widow Remarriage Validity Act 1856.
(6) Expansion of Class I heirs from 12 to 16: Under the old Act 1956, the children of
pre-deceased son of the pre-deceased son were given class I status. Other great-
grandchildren were not included in class I category. So, under 2005 Act, this benefit is
extended to the children of pre-deceased daughter of the pre-deceased daughter,
daughter of pre-deceased son of the predeceased daughter and daughter of pre-deceased
daughter of the predeceased son.
These are the significant changes in HS (Amendment) Act 2005.
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WHAT ARE THE CHANGES INTRODUCED UNDER HINDU SUCCESSION

(AMENDMENT) ACT 2005

These are the significant changes in HS (Amendment) Act 2005.

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