State briefly the general rules respecting succession as enumerated in the Hindu Succession Act.
Ans. General Rules regarding succession.—The Hindu Succession Act lays down certain rules respecting succession, which are as under
(1) Full blood preferred to half blood.—Heirs related by fitll blood will be preferred to those related by half-blood ifthe nature of relationship is the same in every other respect (Section 18). Heirs descending from the common ancestor by the same wife are to be preferred to those who are descended from the same common ancestor but by different wives. Thus the full sister’s daughter shall be preferred to half brother’s son. (2) Mode of succession to two or more heirs.—When property is inherited by two or more persons they will take it ordinarily per capita and as tenants-in-common and not as joint tenants (Section 19). Succession to the estate of the deceased shall be individual, and not joint. Each heir shall take his or her share individually and not branch-wise. The heirs shall not succeed the estate of the deceased jointly but take their individual shares simultaneously as tenants-in- common. This practically finishes off the joint family system which was the backbone of Hindu Society in days gone by (Section 19). (3) Right of child in womb.—A child in womb of the mother at the time of the death of an intestate will have the same right to succeed as the child would have had if he or she had been born before the death of intestate (Section 20). A child in womb at the time of intestate’s death has been given the right to share the property of the deceased if it is born alive subsequently. The inheritance in such a case shall be deemed to vest in the child with effect from the date of the death of the intestate. If, however, a child is born he or she will divest the shares allotted to other heirs, and there will have to be a readjustment of the shares. If, however, the other heirs upon whom the property might have vested belong to Class H of the Schedule then they will be completely divested and excluded from their shares and the after-born child whether a son or a daughter shall alone inherit the entire property. (4) Presumption in cases of simultaneous death.—”Where two persons have died in circumstances rendering it uncertain whether either of them, and ifso, which survived the other, then, for all purposes affecting succession to property, it shall be presumed, until contrary is proved, that the younger survived the elder”. (Section 21). Take for instance, a father Fand a son S die in aircrash. S be presumed to have survived F. In the Mauer of Mahabir Singl( 1963 Punjab 66), a testator and his wife (who was younger to him in age) died simultaneously of gun shot wounds. The court held that the wife should be presumed to have survived the testator. (5) Murderer disqualified from inheritance.—A person who commits murder or abets the commission of murder shall be disqualified from inheriting the property of the person murdered, or any other property in furtherance of the succession in which he or she committed or abetted the commission of the murder. (Section 25). Any person found guilty of the murder or abetment of murder of the deceased intestate shall forfeit his or her right to succeed to the property of the deceased. (6) Effect of conversion of descendants.—Where, before or after the commencement of this Act, a Hindu has ceased or ceases to be a Hindu by conversion to another religion, children born to him or her after such conversion and their descendants shall be disqualified from inheriting the property ofany of their Hindu relatives, unless such children or descendants are Hindu at the time when the succession opens (Section 26). Conversion of an heir is not a bar to succession. But the children of a Hindu convert to a non-Hindu religion cannot inherit. So also the descendants of the children of the convert cannot inherit, unless such children or descendants are Hindus at the time when succession opens. Their offsprings shall be disqualified to inherit the property unkss they become reconverts to Hinduism at the time of intestate’s death. (7) Effect of disqualification.—If any person is disqualified from inheriting any property under this Act it shall devolve as if such person had died before the intestate. (Section 27). Offsprings of disqualified heirs mentioned in Sections 25 and 26 shall succeed to the estate of the intestate as if their father had pre-deceased the intestate when the succession opened. (8) Preferential right to acquire share.—Section 22 of the Act gives such right to certain persons. Section 22 runs as follows : (1) Where, after the commencement of this Act, an interest in any immovable property of an intestate or in any business carried on by him or her, whether solely or in conjunction with others, devolves upon two or more heirs specified in class I of the Schedule, and one of such heirs proposes to transfer his or her interest in the property or business the other heirs shall have a preferential right to acquire the interest proposed to be transferred. (2) The consideration for which any interest in the property of the deceased may be transferred under this section shall, in the absence of any agreement between the parties, be determined by the court on an application being made to it in this behalf, and if any person proposing to acquire the interest is not willing to acquire it for the consideration so determined, such person shall be liable to pay all costs of or incidental to the application. (3) If there are two or more heirs specified in class I of the Schedule proposing to acquire any interest under this section that heir who offers the highest consideration for the transfer shall be preferred; The right to acquire interest of one or more heirs in class I of the Schedule, which the other co-heir gets under this section is not a right of pre-emption but only a preferential right to acquire the property. (10) Testamentary Succession (Section 30).—This Act makes important changes with regard to the disposition of the property by will: A male or female Hindu coparcener has been empowered to dispose of his Mitakshara coparcenary interest by will. Thus a Hindu, whether governed by Dayabhaga law or Mitakshara law, can dispose of his separate property as well as the interest in the Mitakshara coparcenary property. This power is intended to prevent unnecessary disruption of joint-family property (Section 30). Section 30 lays down—Any Hindu may dispose of by will or other testamentary disposition any property, which is capable of being so disposed of by him or by her in accordance with the provisions of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 (39 of 1925) or any other Law for the time being in force and applicable to Hindus. Explanation.—The interest of a male Hindu in a Mitakshara coparcenary property or the interest of the tarwad, ileot, Kutumba or Kavaru shall notwithstanding anything contained in this Act or in any other law for the time being in force be deemed to be property capable of being disposed of by him or by her within the meaning of this section.