Hindu Joint Family can reunite even after partition: Supreme Court
Last Updated on July 1, 2021 by Administrator
Written by Shrey Garg
A two- judge bench of Supreme Court consisting of Justices Ashok Bhushan and R. Subhash Reddy held in the case of Janakiammal vs. SK Kumarasamy (Deceased) [CA 1537 OF 2016] that a Hindu Joint Family can reunite after their partition to continue their status as joint family.
In this case three brothers had signed a partition agreement on 07.11.1960.
The matter before the court was to decide that whether a particular property purchased in 1979 should be treated as a joint family property or not.
The appellant in the case argued that the three brothers partitioned on 07.11.1960 to save a landed property from Land Ceiling Act and there was no intention to separate each branch and thereby bringing a change in the joint Hindu family status.
He further added that the three brothers intended to reunite and the same can be inferred through their conduct post 07.11.1960.
The court referred to the Mulla’s commentary on Hindu Law along with some decisions of the apex court to conclude that the three brothers wanted to reunite post 07.11.1960 and when the residential property was bought in Tatabad in 1979 by one brother all three branches of the business were a part of the Joint Hindu Family Business and therefore the benefit of one brother was benefit of all and all three branches have an equal share in the property purchased.
