The answer is, that section 14 only applies to properties possessed by the female Hindu at the date of commencement of the Act.

It is not correct to say that the expression by a female Hindu refers to a point of time before the commencement of the Act , because such an interpretation would be inconsistent with the expression" shall be held by her as full owner , occuring in the later part of the section.

If Section 14 is to apply,it is necessary that a female Hindu must be alive at the date of the promulgation of the Act and it is also necessary that she must be " possessed" of the property in question on that date.

It is true that section 14 is retrospective in so far as it enlarges a Hindu women's limited estate in to an absolute one even with regard to the property inherited or held by her as limited owner before the Act came in to force.

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