Rights of Coparcener under Hindu Law
Coparcenary under the Mitakshara school is a narrower body of persons within a Joint family. Mulla, in Principles of Hindu Law (12th edition), has stated that a Joint family consists of all persons lineally descended from a common ancestor, and includes their wives and unmarried daughters. Hindu Coparcenary is a much narrower body than Joint family, and it includes only those persons who acquire by birth an interest in joint or coparcenary property.
The conception of a Joint Hindu family constituting a coparcenary is that of a common male ancestor with his lineal descendants in the male line within four degrees, counting from and inclusive of such ancestor. No coparcenary can commence without a common male ancestor, although after his death it may consist of collaterals. No female can be a coparcener.
A coparcener has the following rights:
1. Community of Interest and Unity of Possession
The nature of ownership of Mitakshara coparceners in the joint family property is communal ownership. Each coparcener, right from the day of his birth, acquires an interest in the joint family property and has a right of common enjoyment and use of the whole property. As a coparcener’s interest in the property is not specified or ascertained, each coparcener has a joint and equal interest in the whole of the joint property of the family.
2. Share of Income
A member of a joint family has no definite share in the joint family property. He cannot predicate, at any given moment, what his share in the joint family property is. Such a share becomes definite only when a partition takes place. His interest is a fluctuating one, which is likely to be increased or diminished by deaths and births in the family. Thus, no member is entitled to any definite share of the income of the property. The whole income of the joint family property is brought to the common purse of the family, and is then dealt with as per the right of the member to enjoy such property.
3. Right of Inheritance by Survivorship
One of the most remarkable features of Mitakshara coparcenary is that every coparcener has a right of inheritance by survivorship, which means that upon the death of any coparcener, the deceased’s interest in coparcenary property will devolve to the surviving coparceners. This is the reason why a coparcener’s interest in joint family property keeps on fluctuating — on the birth of any coparcener, he acquires an equal interest in property from the day of birth, thereby diminishing the interest of each coparcener, and upon the death of any coparcener, his interest in joint family property devolves to all surviving coparceners, which increases each coparcener’s interest.
4. Right of Maintenance and Other Necessary Expenses
Every coparcener is entitled to be maintained out of the estate of the family. For this reason, he is entitled to receive from the coparcenary property maintenance for himself, his wife and children, as also for those whom he is bound to maintain. Besides such maintenance, a coparcener is also entitled to get money from the coparcenary property for the purpose of the marriage of his children and for the performance of the Shradha and Upanayana ceremonies.
5. Right to Restrain Improper Acts
Every coparcener has the right of restraining improper acts on the part of other coparceners, where such an act causes substantial injury to his rights as a member of the family. Thus, if a coparcener erects a building on land belonging to the joint family so as to materially alter the condition of the property, he may be restrained by an injunction of a court of law from doing so.
6. Right to Ask for Partition
A coparcener in the Mitakshara school of Hindu Law acquires an interest in Joint Hindu family property from the day of his birth, and at any time during his life, if he wants to separate or individualize his interest, he can do so by filing a suit for partition. In such an eventuality, the coparcener also has the right to ask for accounts, etc., of the joint estate during the pendency of the suit for partition.
7. Right of Alienation
No coparcener has any right to gift away or alienate in any way his undivided interest in coparcenary property. It is, however, important to point out that any such unauthorized alienation by a coparcener is not void, but voidable at the option of the other coparceners. A “Karta” or a coparcener has certain special powers of disposition over the coparcenary property which no other coparcener has.
8. Right to Impeach Unauthorized Alienation
Every coparcener has the right to impeach the alienation of coparcenary property by the manager or any other coparcener in excess of their power. Such an alienation can be impleaded only by a coparcener or by a transferee who has acquired the entire interest of a joint family member in the property alienated. A female member of the family has no such power.
9. Right to Renounce
A coparcener has the right to renounce his interest in the coparcenary property. He can do so by expressing his intention to that effect, and if he does so, no other formalities are necessary. Such a renunciation must, however, be in favour of the whole body of coparceners. If he renounces in favour of one or more individual members, the renunciation operates for the benefit of all the coparceners.
10. Right to Acquire Properties
A coparcener has the right to acquire personal property. As observed in Harihar Sethi v. Ladukishore Sethi, AIR 2002 Ori. 110, a Hindu, even if joint, may possess separate property. Such property exclusively belongs to him, and no other member of the coparcenary has any interest in it.
11. Right to Manage
Every senior coparcener of the family is entitled to manage the coparcenary property and business, and to look after the interests of the family.
Join our WhatsApp Groups ( Click Here) and Telegram Channel ( Click Here) and get instant notifications.
Editorial Note: This article has been reviewed by the LegalRath Editorial Team to ensure legal accuracy, editorial quality, and clarity before publication.