Hindu Succession Act, 1956 – ss.13, 14 – Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 – ss.12, 16 – Transfer of Property Act, 1882 – s.122 – Effects of adoption – Principle of Relation Back – Death of the original owner of the property – Following his death, property dispute between his two wives – Property divided among the two on basis of a compromise decree – Thereafter, the first wife-defendant no. 1 who was issueless, adopted the appellant – Thirteen years later, the defendant no. 1 executed sale deed in respect of schedule A properties and gift deed in respect of schedule B and C properties in favour of defendants – Appellant filed suit for partition and separate possession of the schedule properties as also challenged the execution of sale deed and gift deed – Trial court declared gift deed as null and void and granted the entire suit schedule B and C properties to the appellant since he was the sole legal heir of defendant No.1 and rejected his claim as regards the sale deed upholding the sale deed – High Court set aside the order as regards alienation under the gift deed, however, upheld the sale deed – Interference:
Held: Principle of Relation Back is that an adoption by a widow would relate back to the date of death of her husband, creating an immediate coparcenary interest in the joint property, meaning that the adopted child is treated as if they were born to the deceased husband, thus entitled to inherit his property – Adoption by defendant No.1-widow of the original owner would relate back to the date of death of the adoptive father but then all lawful alienations made by defendant No.1-adoptive mother would be binding on the appellant-adopted son – Adoptive son’s right to impeach previous alienations would depend upon the capacity of defendant No.1 who made the alienation as well as on the nature of the action of alienation – First alienation is the one where defendant no.1 effected sale of the properties – Concurrent findings by the courts below that defendant no.1 got absolute right to effect the sale of the property warrant no interference – By applying the ‘Doctrine of Relation Back’, the appellant is bound by the said alienation – As regards the alienation by gift deed, the nature of action of alienation is gift – In order to be valid gift, acceptance of the gift is a pre-requisite – Gift deed has no reference about the delivery of property by the donor and taking possession of property by the donee – Trial court’s holding that the appellant is entitled to entire 'B' and 'C' schedule properties as the sole legal heir of deceased defendant no.1, not faulty as it is the inevitable consequence of application for the ‘Doctrine of Relation Back’; and that the prerequisite for making the gift valid was absent and as such defendant nos. 4 and 5 could not become absolute owners of the schedule properties through gift deed – High Court interfered with the sound reasoning of the trial court, and set aside without providing any good and sustainable reason – Such finding could be reversed only if it is found that the said finding was based on perverse precision of evidence – Concurrent finding of the courts below that the sale deed is valid is upheld – Impugned judgment pertaining to the alienation of properties through gift deed quashed and set aside. [Paras 16-31] Hindu Succession Act, 1956 – s.12 – Effects of adoption – 'Relation Back Principle':
Held: Principle is that the adoption by a widow would relate back to the date of death of her husband, creating an immediate coparcenary interest in the joint property, meaning that the adopted child is treated as if they were born to the deceased husband, thus entitled to inherit his property. [Para 18]
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Headnotes prepared by: Nidhi Jain. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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