Case: Sukhram &amp; Another Vs. Gauri Shankar &amp; Anr

1. Hukam Singh and Sukhram -the first appellant in this appeal-were two brothers. Chidda - the second appellant -is the son of Sukhram. Hukam Singh, Sukhram and Chidda constituted a Hindu joint family and were governed by the Mitakshara Law of the Benares School. Hukam Singh died in 1952 leaving him surviving his wife Kishan Devi. On December 15, 1956, Kishan Devi sold a half share in a house and a shop belonging to the joint family, to Gauri Shankar. Sukhram and his son Chidda then commenced an action in the Court of the Munsif of Ghaziabad for a decree declaring that the sale by Kishan Devi to Gauri Shankar was without consideration, and for an order cancelling the sale deed. The suit was dismissed by the Court of First Instance, the District Court, Meerut, and the High Court of Allahabad.

Reasoning: 4. It is true that under the Benares school of the Mitakshara a coparcener may not, without the consent of the other coparceners, sell his undivided shares in the family estate for his ownthe words of Section 14 of the Hindu Succession Act are express and explicit: thereby a female Hindu possessed of property whether acquired before or after the commencement of the Act holds it as full owner and not as a limited owner. The interest to which Kishan Devi became entitled on the death of her husband under Section 3 (2) of the Hindu Womens Rights to Property Act, 1937, in the property of the joint family indisputably her "property" within the meaning of Section 14 of Act 30 of 1956, and when she became "full owner" of that property she acquired a right unlimited in point of user and duration and uninhibited in point of disposition.5. We are unable to agree with Mr. Chatterjee that restrictions on the right of the male members of a Hindu joint family form the bed-rock on which the law relating to joint family property under the Hindu law is founded.Under the Law of the Mitakshara as administered in the territory governed by the Maharashtra and the Madras Schools and even in the State of Madhya Pradesh, a Hindu coparcener is competent to alienate for value his undivided interest in the entire joint family property or any specific property without the assent of his coparceners. A male member of a Hindu family governed by the Benares School of Hindu Law is undoubtedly subject to restrictions qua alienation of his interest in the joint family property but a widow acquiring an interest in that property by virtue of the Hindu Succession Act is not subject to any such restrictions. That is however not a ground for importing limitations which the Parliament has not chosen to impose.6. On the death of her husband, Kishan Devi became entitled to the same interest which Hukam Singh had in the joint family property. Of that interest, she became full owner on June 17, 1956, and being full owner she was competent to sell that interest for her own purposes, without the consent of the male coparceners of her husband.