LAW FOR ALL

whether sec.15 [2] of Hindu Succession Act applies ?= Perumal Naidu bequeathed his properties to all his heirs including his two daughters by conferring on them “absolute interest” and not the “life interest” in the properties. A fortiori, Alamelu Ammal and the defendant, therefore, acquired absolute ownership rights in the suit properties on the strength of the Will. They, therefore, rightly got their names recorded in the Revenue Records in 1957 itself and continued to exercise their ownership rights till 1987 without any interference from anyone including plaintiffs or/and their predecessor-in-title. One cannot dispute a legal proposition that once a heir becomes the absolute owner of the property by virtue of a Will then as a necessary consequence, he/she is entitled to alienate such property by any mode permissible in law to anyone. Alamelu Ammal did it when she alienated her share by executing a Will in favour of the defendant(her sister). It was legally permissible. 42) If however, Courts had held in the plaintiffs’ favour that the heir got only “life interest” in the property through Will of Perumal Naidu then perhaps on the death of such heir, her share may have devolved on the surviving heirs (reversioners) of father (Perumal Naidu) in terms of Section 15(2) of the Act subject to proving other conditions. Such was, however, not the case. we did not consider it necessary to examine the meaning of the words “any property inherited by a female Hindu from her father or mother” occurring in Section 15(2)(a) of the Act for deciding a question as to whether such expression would include “a property received by a female Hindu by Will from her father or mother” or it would include only those properties which are devolved on female by natural succession on the death of her father or mother. In this case, this question need not be decided once we have held that Section 15(2) of the Act has no application to the facts of this case. 45) As a consequence, the appeal succeeds and is allowed. The impugned judgment is set aside and that of the trial Court is restored resulting in dismissal of the suit filed by the plaintiffs.