LAW FOR ALL

MADRAS HIGH COURT= Section 6 of the Hindu Succession Act, had been amended in 2005. the proviso to Section 6(1) is as to whether it includes a testamentary disposition that has come into effect due the death of the testator before the crucial date or a bequest which has not yet come into effect, due to the testator being alive as on the crucial date.= where the testator was alive as on 20-12-2004, the Will, even if any executed by him genuinely before the said date, would not make it a case of testamentary disposition which had taken place, so as to make the case fall under the proviso and to take it out of the application of section 6(1). In other words, a case will fall under the proviso to section 6(1), only if 2 things had taken place before 20-12 2004 namely (i) execution of a Will and (ii) the death of the testator. The execution of the Will before 20-12 2004 alone is not sufficient to take a case out of the operation of section 6(1), as no disposition under the Will would have taken place, if the testator was alive.; whether, the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005 will have retrospective effect or not, has been answered by the Supreme Court in Prakash v. Phulavat (2016)2 SCC 36. The Supreme Court held therein that the rights under the amendment are applicable to living daughters of living coparceners as on 9th September, 2005 irrespective of when such daughters were born. The Supreme Court further held that disposition or alienation including partition, which may have taken place before 20.12.2004 as per the law applicable prior to the said date, will remain unaffected.