Supreme Court To Examine If Kerala Joint Family Abolition Act Repugnant To Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act 2005

The Supreme Court on Friday (February 6) issued notice returnable four weeks in a plea challenging the Kerala High Court's judgment, which held that the Kerala Joint Hindu Family System(Abolition) Act, 1975 was repugnant to the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005.A bench comprising Justice Pankaj Mithal and Justice SVN Bhatti considered the matter. Notice has also been issued on an interim prayer seeking a stay of the High Court's judgment.Following the declaration of repugnancy, the High Court had held that the daughter of a Hindu who died after December 20, 2004 (the date on which the Hindu Sucession Amendment Act took effect), would be entitled to an equal share in the Hindu Undivided Family(HUF) property in Kerala.By the judgment dated July 7, 2025, Justice S. Eswaran of the Kerala High Court had held that Sections 3 and 4 of the Kerala Joint Hindu Family System(Abolition) Act, 1975, are repugnant to Section 6 of the Hindu Succession(Amendment) Act, 2005. By an amendment in 2005, the central law allowed Hindu daughters to claim equal coparcenary rights in a joint family property. However, Sections 3 and 4 of the State Act allowed that no person can claim a birthright in ancestral property, and a HUF in Kerala is deemed to have been partitioned and converted to tenancy-in-common. It was clarified that the judgment would only apply in Mitakshara law cases. The present case originated from a partition suit, where the daughters claimed an equal share in the late father's ancestral property. The special leave petition against the High Court's order states that the property of the petitioner's(son) father had ceased to be a HUF and was converted into self-acquired property. It was argued that Section 6 of the Succession Act presupposes the existence of a HUF government by Mitakshara law, but the same does not apply in Kerala, where the joint family system has been statutorily abolished from 1975. It has also been submitted that the 1975 Abolition Act is a special State legislation governing the complete abolition of the joint family system in Kerala. It prevails over the general provisions of the Hindu Succession Act. Moreover, a subsequent central legislation can't retrospectively nullify or dilute the already vested or accrued rights under a special legislation. "It is therefore submitted that the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005 cannot be applied retrospectively so as to dilute, annul, or defeat the statutory consequences flowing from the Kerala Joint Hindu Family System (Abolition) Act, 1975. The Abolition Act, being a prior and special State legislation, had already extinguished the joint family and coparcenary system in Kerala, and consequently vested or accrued rights under the State Act cannot be reopened, forfeited, or overridden in the absence of an express legislative intention in the 2005 Amendment to repeal or supersede the Abolition Act," the SLP stated.Appearances - Sr Advs V. Chitambaresh, Shyam Padman, Advs.Jaimon Andrews, Piyo Harold Jaimon, Firdouse C P, Ashwathi Shyam, and AOR Naresh Kumar.Case Details: RADHA NAMBIDI PARAMBATH vs. N.P.RAJANI|Diary No. - 2622/2026Click Here To Read Order

Supreme Court To Examine If Kerala Joint Family Abolition Act Repugnant To Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act 2005

Gursimran Kaur Bakshi

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