Vatsal Agrawal, Jindal Global Law School
INTRODUCTION
The law governing intestate succession underwent significant and fundamental modifications as a result of the 2005 amendment to the Hindu Succession Act, 1956. It was a much-needed progression of the Mitakshara legislation, which required that a deceased person's separate property and coparcenary property be split evenly in-between the male and female heirs after one's death. The only way to carry out the proviso provided by s 6 is to calculate a fictitious, hypothetical partition that divides the stake of the dead coparcener by supposing that the split of the ancestral property took place prior to his demise. This concept is called as notional partition.
The paper analyses the theory of notional partition in the Mitakshara School and provides an in-depth analysis of Section 6 of the HAS, 1956 pre 2005 and post 2005, and substantiates all this with the help of judicial, statutory and scholarly bases. The paper argues that although the 2005 amendment to S6 of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 shows a progressive approach towards gender equality and promoting equality. However, the paper further argues that the amendment is not comprehensive and does not take into account the adverse impacts of providing daughters with the right of coparcenary qua other provisions of the Hindu Succession Act.
Comments