9911796707
TMI Blog1987 (1) TMI 72X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... turn admitting a sum of Rs. 5,835 being the value of her life interest in the agricultural lands of an extent of 36.11115 acres. The husband of the assessee executed a will on June 7, 1950, conferring life interest to the wife in the properties. There is no mention about the vested remainder. The wife is empowered to adopt boy if she chooses to do so. The Wealth-tax Officer held that the assessee was the absolute owner of the entire property left by her husband and did not accept the valuation based upon the claim of life interest. On appeal, the Appellate Assistant Commissioner held that the value of the life interest alone is exigible to levy of wealth-tax. On appeal at the instance of the Revenue, the Appellate Tribunal held that the val ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... o claim partition, but her interest is restricted to limited interest which is known as woman's estate. This limited interest is enlarged by removing the disability of a female to acquire and hold the property as an absolute owner and convert the estate already held on the date of commencement of the Act as a limited owner into an absolute estate. Section 14(1) of the Hindu Succession Act provides that the property possessed by a female Hindu shall be held by her as full owner. Sub-section (2) in the nature of an exception to sub-section (1) provides that the incident of absolute ownership does not apply to a situation where the restricted interest is prescribed in the property acquired by way of gift or a will or any other instrument or de ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e by force of section 14(1) and the restrictions placed, if any, under the document would have to be ignored. Thus where a property is allotted or transferred to a female in lieu of maintenance or a share at partition, the instrument is taken out of the ambit of sub-section (2) and would be governed by section 14(1) despite any restrictions placed on the powers of the transferee." In Jinnappa Thavannappa Patel v. Smt. Kallavva, AIR 1983 Kar 67, Khemanna executed a will dated January 3, 1980 whereby he bequeathed his property for life in favour of his wife and after her lifetime to his brother's son absolutely. In the context of considering whether the widow acquired absolute right in view of section 14(1) of the Hindu Succession Act, the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... re the existence of the document, the widow had no vestige of a claim or right at all." In Manavala Chetty v. Ramanujam Chetty [1971] 1 MLJ 127, the testator under the will apart from other properties bequeathed a right of residence in the house to the wife and no provision had been made with regard to the residuary estate and in the context of considering whether the widow got absolute right in the house, Ramamurthi J. held as follows: " The inference is clear that the testator had died intestate with regard to this property except to the limited extent of the right of residence carved out in favour of his wife. When the document is silent, containing no express provision as to what should happen to the property after the death of th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... section (2) seeking to shrink the operation of sub-section (1) provides that the life interest subsists in the event of an express declaration to that effect in the will or any other interest. But, however, the declaration in an instrument does not relax the coverage of sub-section (1) in the event of a pre-existing right. The right to maintenance from out of the properties of the husband inheres in the wife and any interest carved out of the properties should be considered in lieu of the pre-existing right of the wife. Notwithstanding the absence of any specific recital in the instrument regarding the purpose or provision of life interest to the wife, it can be presumed that such a provision is with reference to the pre-existing right of t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... used, but that is not the case. The conferment of a vested interest on the plaintiff and the other three persons is inconsistent with the notion that the Hindu widow's estate was what was given to Sowbagiammal, because a Hindu widow is not a bare life estate holder but a full owner though her powers of alienation are limited and the persons who take after her would only have a mere spes successionis or chance of succession; only those reversionary heirs living at the time of her death would be entitled to take under the Hindu law. Secondly, a Hindu widow would have powers of alienation binding the reversioners in certain limited circumstances, but a bare life estate holder would not have any such powers, and in this case no such powers of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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