The Hindu Succession Act made a significant departure from the established norms of Hindu personal law by including the concept of an imperfect title in property acquired by a Hindu female for her maintenance, as a right that should be expanded under Section 14(1) of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956. This represents a specific departure from both personal law and common law.

A maintenance right enures for her lifetime, and the Legislature was conscious of this. However, they deliberately included this in the explanation to Section 14(1) in order to expand the right and make it an absolute right for the female concerned after the commencement of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956.

Absolute Property of a Female Given in Maintenance
No doubt, property given to a female in lieu of maintenance, either before or after the Act, becomes her absolute property under sub-section (1), which applies to contracts, gifts, or bequests. However, sub-section (2) cannot be overlooked. If the property is acquired by the female in any of the modes prescribed in sub-section (2) and the acquisition itself is a restricted estate, the legislation grants full ownership to a Hindu female who acquires property through a gift, estate right, or restricted estate in the property.

All the clauses of Section 14 must be read and interpreted together, in conjunction with Section 14 and other provisions of the Act. When read this way, it is clear that Section 14 is not intended to override lawful terms in contracts, bargains, bequests, or gifts. Certainly, it cannot be contended that the object of Section 14 is to place a Hindu female in a better position than a Hindu male when the gift, bequest, or other instrument, as a matter of construction, confers only a restricted estate.

Section 14 of the Act only removes the disabilities imposed by Hindu personal law regarding the quality or extent of the estate taken by a female in certain circumstances, typically concerning inherited properties, properties given to her in a partition, and properties devolving upon her without specification of her estate.

The Act is both an amending and codifying statute, and in the definition of property in Section 14, it is clear that not only properties in which a female Hindu would have a limited estate are covered, but also properties she would hold as the full owner, even before the Act. For sub-section (2) to apply, it is an essential condition that the instrument limiting or restricting the estate should be the source or foundation of the female’s title in the property. If she already has an existing right in the property, the interposition of an instrument will not affect the operation of sub-clause (1) on the property.

If the instrument-whether a decree, order, award, or deed of partition—merely declares the pre-existing title of the Hindu woman to any particular property, sub-section (2) would not exclude the property from the coverage of sub-section (1). However, if a female Hindu takes property under an instrument of the kind specified in sub-section (2), and not by virtue of any antecedent legal right or title in the property, any restriction placed on the property would have its full effect.

The widow’s right to be maintained out of her husband’s property or joint-family property is an indefinite right, which can be made certain and charged on specific properties by agreement, decree of court, panchayat, award, or otherwise. Section 39 of the Transfer of Property Act provides for the enforcement of the widow’s maintenance right from the profits of immovable property, even against a transferee of the property, if they have notice of the right or if the transfer is gratuitous. However, it is evident that neither Section 39 of the Transfer of Property Act nor personal law makes the bare right of maintenance out of the profits of property an absolute or transferable right.

End Notes:

1. Muthu Bhattar v. D. Chokku Bhattar, (1975) 2 M.L.J. 232 at p. 238;
2. Hemanta Das v. Kiran Hazarika, (2013) 2 Gau. L.R. 564 at p. 570 (Gau.);
3. Singamsetty Narayan v. Konatham Lakshmam, 2012(2) A.L.T. 27 at p. 34 (A.P.);
4. A.I.R. 2012 A.P. 54 at p. 59.