• Supreme Court dismisses son’s claim for a half share in the property.
• Property had been partitioned before the appellant’s birth.
• Father’s allotted share became his exclusive individual property.
• Court says grandson cannot claim coparcenary rights by birth in such property.

GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 12th Nov: The Supreme Court has ruled that a son cannot claim a birthright in his father’s share of a property that has already been partitioned and become his exclusive individual property.

The court dismissed an appeal seeking a half share in a 1,811-square-foot property, holding that the son could not claim coparcenary rights by birth in an asset that had devolved upon his father under the Hindu Succession Act, 1956.

The case originated from a partition suit filed in 1997 on behalf of a minor son through his mother. He claimed that the property originally belonged to his grandfather and that he had acquired rights in it by birth.

Examining the timeline, the court noted that the grandfather’s death and the opening of succession took place before the appellant’s birth on January 6, 1994. Partition proceedings had been initiated in 1993, and a settlement was reached on February 3, 1994.

The court held that the grandfather’s property had devolved upon his Class I legal heirs under the Hindu Succession Act. Following the partition, the respective shares became the exclusive properties of the co-sharers. The portion allotted to the appellant’s father therefore became his individual property and could not be treated as coparcenary property.

The court also noted that the father had subsequently sold his share through sale deeds, which were never challenged.

Upholding the judgment under challenge, the Supreme Court observed that a divided son or daughter who receives a share in a partition becomes its absolute owner and can deal with the property independently, excluding their own children from claiming rights by birth.

The court further clarified that a grandson does not acquire coparcenary rights in such property through his father when succession has opened under Section 8 of the Hindu Succession Act.