Full blooded heir preferred to a half blood

Full blooded heir preferred to a half blood written by Prapti Kothari student of Institute of Law, Nirma university

R. BALAVENKATRAMAN V. T.L. NATARAJAN MANU/TN/7669/2018

MATERIAL FACTS

P.L. Ranganathan was the father of R. Balavenkatraman (the Appellant), one Gourammal, and one R. Ayyasamy. The mother of the appellant passed away a considerable time ago, and the father preceded his mother, too. The appellant’s brother and sister namely, R. Ayyasamy and Gourammal died on 15/9/2005 and 29/9/2005 respectively. Both brother and sister of the Appellant were not married and they had no problems. Thus, the Appellant submitted he was the only existing Legal Heir out of the said R. Ayyasamy and Gourammal as per the Indian Succession Act.
The respondent was the paternal uncle of the Appellant here, nevertheless, and had claimed that the Appellant was not the sole legitimate successor to the late Gourammal, but that the Respondent and his brothers and sisters, as well as other stepbrothers and stepsisters, were the rightful successors to the late Gourammal, and that the Appellant had therefore lodged this petition withholding these particulars. The respondent, thus, requested for the termination of the same.

ISSUE

Whether the lower court had come to the erroneous line of reasoning in finding that when stepbrothers and stepsisters are present, could the appellant have made them relevant claimants to the dispute?

RULE OF LAW

Section 18 of Hindu Succession Act, 1956

ANALYSIS

Referring to section 3 of the Act, it was evident that an individual to be recognized as full blood must be conceived to a full blood father and mother, half-blood being common to the father, and mothers are distinct individuals. Therefore, when this Court had gone through the disclosures, it was observed that the full blood brother of the deceased Gourammal was the Appellant here. Via his father’s second wife, he had stepbrothers and stepsisters and they are all half-blooded individuals.

Owing to section 15 of the Act and the said Rules provided in section 16 of the aforementioned Act, it is only if there are no sons, daughters, and husband that it passes to the husband’s descendants if those people do not survive, then it passes on to father and mother; if father and mother do not live, it passes to the father’s descendants, and even if that option is not available, then it ultimately goes to the descendants of the mother. Consequently, since he is the brother of the deceased Gourammal, the Appellant becomes the father’s heir. As per Section 18, the other individuals such as stepbrothers and stepsisters born through the Second Wife may be considered only half-blood brothers and sisters, full blood brother must be preferred to the half-blood-related heirs. The Appellant, therefore, becomes the heir to the estate of the deceased Gourammal, because he is the full-blooded brother.

Likewise, they were not reasonably made as parties by the Appellant since they have no entitlement to benefit in the property of the late Gourammal (sister) conceived through the First Wife. The offspring of the Second Wife is qualified to be the father’s heirs and not the deceased half-blooded sister’s estate. The Appeal was, therefore, permitted. The decree issued by the learned Principal District Judge was discarded and the matter was referred back to the Authority to issue the required certificate of succession within six weeks of the date of the order.

CONCLUSION

Hence, the benefit to the estate of the deceased persons is only available to class-one descendants who are the brothers or sisters by full blood. Therefore, if the Appellant by full blood is the sibling, he solely is eligible to the said estate, not the Respondent therein. Half-blood brothers and sisters were disregarded after the Court had ruled in favor of the appellant, and thus the full blood brother (appellant) alone was favored. The issue of alleging that the appellant was paternally associated with the First Respondent and others and that they were, therefore, qualified to the claim was dismissed.