NOTES ON JOINT FAMILY PROPERTY UNDER HINDU LAW

Mitakshara school divides property into two classes,viz:

1) Unobstructed heritage:- Property in which a person acquires an interest by birth is called unobstructed heritage. It is so called because the accrual of the right to such property has no obstruction. Thus property inherited by a hindu from his father,father's father,or father's father's father, is unobstructed heritage. Their right to such property arises from mere fact of their birth in the family and as soon as they are born,they become coparceners of such property along with their paternal ancestor. Ancestral property is therefore is unobstructed heritage.

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Whether other coparcener can claim partition of property purchased by person by income from his professional knowledge?

 Now it is not denied anywhere that the business started by Arjan Singh was not a commercial venture per se but a calling or profession, i.e. medical advice in respect of herbal remedies. The plaintiffs allege that such knowledge or expertise so acquired by Arjan Singh is not on account of his association with his father. The object of the said Act was to ensure that earning from acquired skills such as medical or legal practice, accountancy or in other avocations where individual effort and skill is necessary, should never be deemed as part of contribution by member of a joint family property so as to bring it within the HUF hotchpotch. This was to incentivize proficiency in such vocations and encourage people into acquiring greater skills and higher learning as in the absence of such safeguard, the danger of earnings acquired by the members of such joint families becoming available for division are very real. In such eventuality, the members of the joint family, who earn and toil hard were left with a miniscule portion of their earning gained entirely by individual skill and effort as the latter's share, the lion's share of which would have fallen to the other members of the family, who would possibly never work at all. In the present case, the suit expressly states that the funds for acquiring various properties in the name of Arjan Singh were out of his earnings as a medical professional, from out of M/s. Sewak Pharmacy. That clearly falls within the mischief of Section 3 of the Hindu Gains of Learning Act. Therefore, the claim for partition of such properties is expressly barred. 

Delhi High Court

Sh. Balbir Singh Uppal And Anr. vs Sh. Gurmeet Singh Uppal And Ors. on 22 April, 2010

Author: S.Ravindra Bhat

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