Supreme Court Says Grandson Cannot Claim Grandfather’s Divided Property by Birth Alone

The Supreme Court said a grandson cannot claim a share in his grandfather’s property solely by birth if the property has devolved on the grandfather’s legal heirs under the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, and has been divided. A bench of Justices Augustine George Masih and Sunita Agarwal said a grandson is not a Class I heir when succession opens while his father is alive. The father’s share after partition becomes his individual property. The dispute involved a plot allotted to M. Kumaran in a 1994 family settlement over N. Ramakrishnan’s estate. Kumaran sold it in 1997, and his son Rajesh challenged the sale, claiming coparcenary rights. A trial court ruled for Rajesh, but an appellate court overturned that decision.