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TMI Blog1991 (5) TMI 250X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the Act). Facts are simple. Stakes, also, are not substantial, but the issue is of far-reaching consequence. Could a Hindu widow alienate by gift the entire estate inherited from the husband, in favour of one of the female reversioners prior to enforcement of Act 20 of 1956. In case answer to issue is in the affirmative then what was the nature of right that the donee got under law? Did she become an owner of a widow's estate, a limited owner, an owner with some right or title, so as to acquire rights of absolute ownership under section 14 of Act or a trespasser and if trespasser then whether she acquired rights by adverse possession by perfecting her rights against the donor only or it was essential to prescribe rights against reversioners as well? Shorn of details, and various issues raised in the suits, suffice it to mention that even though the trial court found the gift deed to have been duly attested and executed after obtaining permission from the appropriate authority the claim of appellant, for permanent injunction, was decreed not on Section 14 of the Act as the widow who had executed the gift deed in 1954 was, 'incompetent to alienate widow's estate by gift permanentl ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... alcutta High Court, specifically, dissented from the Delhi decision and held that, "Section 14 wanted to benefit those female Hindus who were limited owners in then existing Hindu Law before the commencement of the Act. In the present case the limited owner Motibala having transferred the limited interest to Chanchala before the passing of the Act, it cannot be said that Chanchala's limited interest,if any, ripened into absolute interest in terms of section 14 of the Act". A full bench of Punjab and Haryana High Court in Parmeshwari v. Santokhi, AIR 1977 Punjab 141 too, did not agree with Delhi High Court. It went into the background of legislation, the original form of the bill, ambit of the explanation, anomalies that would result if, even, female alienee was deemed to be a limited owner and held, " that section 14 of the Act was not intended to benefit the alienees of a limited Hindu owner". Similar view was taken by Andhra Pradesh and Madras, High Court in AIR 1957 AP 280 and AIR 1958 Madras, Gaddam Venkayama v. Gaddam Veeryya, and Marudakkal v. Arumugha. Thus according to Delhi Court a donee of even entire Hindu widow's estate became absolute owner under se ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... oman, who under the old law would have been only a limited owner, a full owner of the property with all powers of disposition and to make the estate heritable by her own heirs and not revertible to the heirs of the last male holder". But did the legislature intend to extend same benefit, namely, enlarge the estate, held, on the date the Act came into force by any or every female Hindu into full and absolute estate irrespective of whether she was a limited owner or not. According to learned counsel for appellant the answer should be given in affirmative. He urged that since the age long traditional limitation on inheritance and disposition by a female was removed and the section was widely worded by using broad and comprehensive expressions such as, 'and property, 'possessed', 'acquired before or after the commencement of the Act' and each of these expressions have received expansive of the Act' and each of these expressions have received expansive interpretations by the Court there was no reason not to give similar interpretation to the word female Hindu. The learned counsel submitted that there was no warrant to confine scope of the section to limited owners. He argued that ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... would have been incomplete and insufficient to achieve the objective of removing inequality amongst male and female Hindus unless it was provided that the otherwise limited estate of such a female would become enlarged into full or absolute estate. Any other construction would result in not only ignoring the expression, 'and not as a limited owner' which would be against principle of interpretation but also against the historical background of enactment of the section. Whereas if it is read in its entirety with one part throwing light on another then the conclusion is irresistible that a limited owner became a full owner provided she was in possession of the property on the date of enactment of the Act. Property acquired by a female Hindu before the Act came into force comprised, broadly, of inherited property or stridhana property acquired by her from a male or female. Nature of her right in either class of property, unlike males, depended on the school by which she was governed as well as whether it came to her by devolution or transfer from a male or female. This invidious discrimination was done away with after coming into force of 1956 Act and the concept of Hindu widows' est ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y this Court, on various occasions in different context but in none of these cases the Court had occasion to examine the ambit of expression female Hindu and whether it extended to females other than limited owner. Since in every case whether it was decided for or against it was the widow who was alive on the date the Act came into force and she being a limited owner the decision turned on if she was 'possessed' of the property so as to become full owner. For instance in Gummalapura Taggina Matada Kotturuswami v. Setra Veeravva & Ors., [1959] Supp. 1 SCR 968=AIR 1959 SC 577" the widow was held to have acquired rights as the adoption made by her having been found to be invalid she was deemed to be in constructive possession and thus 'possession' of the property on the date the Act came into force. Mangal Singh v. Smt. Rattno, AIR 1967 SC 1786 was another case where widow's constructive possession enured to her benefit as she having been dispossession by her collaterals in 1954 and filed a suit for recovery of possession before the Act came into force was held to be 'possession' of the property so as to entitle her to become full owner. Munna Lal v. Raj Kumar, AIR 1962 SC 1495 w ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... id not support, to lay down, that, "what was enlarged by subsection (1) of section 14 into a full estate was the Hindu woman's estate known to Hindu Law. When the Court uses the word, 'limited estate', the words are used to connote a right in the property to which possession of the female Hindu may be traced, but which is not a full right of ownership". Gulwant Kaur's case was concerned with acquisition of right by wife, on entrustment of property in lieu of maintenance, after 1956, when the concept of widows' estate or limited estate or even stridhana had ceased to exist. Therefore, what was necessary was being possessed of property, actual or constructive, by female Hindu under some right or title. Whereas Bai Vijia's case was concerned with acquisition of right in property held in lieu of maintenance before 1956. Therefore a female Hindu could become absolute owner only if she was limited owner. Sub-section of section 14 deals with right of female Hindu both before and after the Act came into force. Female Hindu could become absolute owner of property possessed by her on the date the Act came into force only if she was a limited owner whereas she would become absolute ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ing to every school except Bombay every female who succeed as an heir whether to a male or female took a limited estate in the property. Even in Bombay a female who by marriage entered into Gotra (family) of the deceased male inherited a limited estate only. And in paragraph 176 it is stated that incident of estate taken by every limited owner was similar to incident of widow's estate. Mayne's Hindu Law, (12th edition, paragraph 671) too brings out the same by stating that the typical form of estate inherited by a woman from a male was compendiously known as the widow's estate. And the limitation which applied to such estate applied to all estate derived by a female by descent from a male or female whether she inherited as daughter, mother, grandmother, sister or as any other relation. Even stridhana property according to Mulla created limited interest in its successors, except in Bombay in certain circumstances and a female inheriting stridhana took a limited interest in it and on her death it passed not to her heirs but to the next stridhan heirs of the female from she inherited. Thus on plain reading of the Section, and its interpretation by this Court in various decisions a fe ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the last male holder on the date of the commencement of the Act when she is only a trespasser without any right to property''. The High Court overlooked the vital observation made in earlier part of the judgment to the effect. ''In other words, Section 14(1) of the Act contemplates that a Hindu female who in absence of this provision, would have been limited owner of the property, will now become full owner of the same by virtue of this Section.'' Limited owner commonly means a person with restricted rights as opposed to full owner with absolute rights. In relation to property absolute, complete or full ownership comprises various constituents such as the right to posses, actual or constructive, power to enjoy, that is to determine manner of use extending even to destroying, right to alienate, transfer or dispose of etc. Any restriction or limitation on exercise of these rights may result in limited or qualified ownership. For instance restriction on enjoyment of property or its alienation. Such restriction or limitation may arise by operation of law or by deed or instrument. The limited ownership of female Hindu in Hindu Law arose as a matter of law. A Hindu widow, according to d ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nterest commensurate with the period of the natural life of the widow or at any rate with the period of her widowhood. Such transfer is invalid in Hindu Law, but the widow being the grantor herself, cannot derorate from the grant and the transfer cannot also be impeached so long as a person does not come into existence who can claim a present right to possession of the property." Thus if prior to 1956 any alienation was made by a Hindu widow of widow's estate prohibited by law or being beyond permissible limits, it stripped the widow of her rights and she could not acquire any rights under section 14. And so far as alienees were concerned it could utmost create temporary and transitory ownership precarious in nature and vulnerable in character open to challenge if any attempt was made to cloud reversioner's interest. Her possession may be good against the world, her right in property may not be impeachable by the widow but her interest qua the reversioner was to continue in possession at the maximum till the lifetime of her donor of transferor. It was life interest, loosely, as the duration of interest created under invalid transfer came to an end not on death of donee or tra ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... which she herself once possessed namely, a limited ownership (as it was known prior to the coming into force of the Act) which immediately matures into or enlarges into a full ownership in view of Section 14(1) of the Act on the enforcement of the Act. The resultant position on the reversal of the transaction would be that the right, title and interest that the alienee had in the property which was under 'eclipse' during the subsistance of the transaction had re-emerged on the disappearance of the eclipse''. Truely speaking, the interpretation of subsection (1) of section 14 was no different from the other decisions as is clear from the extracts quoted earlier. It is thus clear that an alienee from a Hindu widow prior to 1956 did not acquire limited estate or widow's estate nor she was a limited owner who could get any benefit under section 14 of the Act. It was not even a life estate except loosely, as the right to continue in possession was not related with her span of life but of the transferor that is the Hindu widow. The decision of Delhi High Court, therefore, does not lay down the law correctly. The other view taken by Patna, Calcutta and Punjab and Haryana Courts that sub- ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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