Grandchildren can't claim share in grandparents’ property if parents are alive: HC

In a ruling on Hindu inheritance law, the Delhi High Court has said that grandchildren cannot seek a share in their grandparent’s property if their parent is still alive. The court dismissed a suit filed by a woman seeking rights over a property in west Delhi owned by her late grandfather, a TOI report stated.

The civil suit was filed by Kritika, who claimed a share in her grandfather’s property. She argued that the property was ancestral and therefore exempt from the provisions of Section 8 of the Hindu Succession Act (HSA), 1956. Kritika sought partition, a declaration of her share, and a permanent injunction to prevent her father and aunt from creating third-party interests.

Her father and aunt opposed the plea, stating that after their father’s death, the property devolved only upon them as Class I heirs under Section 8 of the HSA.

Court’s observation

Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav noted that under the Hindu Succession Act, property of a deceased Hindu devolves on Class I heirs, which include the widow, sons, daughters, and mother—not grandchildren if their parents are still alive.

“The entire case of the plaintiff seems to be based on the assumption that the suit property is her ancestral property,” the court said. The judge further observed that the enactment of the HSA “brought about a drastic change in law relating to intestate succession amongst Hindus in India.”

The court held that Kritika’s claim was not supported under succession rules. “If Section 8 is correctly applied, the suit property did not devolve on the plaintiff after the grandfather’s death, as her father was alive at the time,” the court ruled. “The share of the father is his absolute property, and the plaintiff has no right in it.”

The suit was dismissed.