Grandchildren Have No Claim To Ancestral Property Held By Father: SC's Big Ruling On Succession

In a significant ruling, the Supreme Court settled a 29-year-old case and a question of whether a person can claim a share in ancestral property after partition with their father or not. The top court ruled that a father can rightfully exclude his son from inherited property,

In its latest judgment, the Supreme Court stated that a person becomes the absolute owner of his or her father's ancestral or self-acquired property after succession. This grants them full and unrestricted rights over it. It then made a significant observation regarding grandsons, stating that the father can even exclude his sons from the inheritance.

What is the case?

A bench of Justices Augustine George Masih and Sunita Agarwal was hearing a petition filed in 1997 by a man, seeking partition of his father's property, claiming it was ancestral and thus has a birthright to own it.

The court, however, dismissed his plea, explaining that a grandson is not considered a Class I heir under the Hindu Succession Act. Therefore, he cannot claim a share in his grandfather's estate. Citing Section 8, the bench stated that a son becomes the absolute owner of property inherited from his father, while his own son has no birthright to that property.

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"The property of grandfather of the appellant devolved upon the Class I heirs in the order of succession specified therein, and they shall take the property simultaneously to the exclusion of all other heirs," Justice Agarwal, who authored the judgment, said.

No one gets a share until the father is alive

The top court held that Class I heirs are entitled to the property simultaneously. However, no one else has any rights during their lifetime. The Court noted that the Class I Schedule does not mention a grandson (son's son) as an heir. Therefore, he cannot have any rights in his grandfather's property.

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The court pointed out that the 1956 Act, under Hindu personal law, does not grant a grandson the right to claim a share in his grandfather's property while his father is alive. The court held that Section 8 should be read as an independent provision governing the transfer of property of a Hindu male who dies intestate.