No rights automatically acquired over grandparents’ property: Delhi HC

The court delivered the verdict while dealing with a man’s petition seeking rejection of a suit filed by his daughter, claiming share of the property he has inherited from his father.

The Delhi High Court has held that grandchildren do not automatically acquire rights over their grandparents’ property inherited by their parents.

No rights automatically acquired over grandparents’ property: Delhi HC

A bench of justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav held that the share inherited from parents constitutes an individual’s absolute property.

The court delivered the verdict on Tuesday, dealing with a man’s petition seeking rejection of a suit filed by his daughter, claiming share of the property he has inherited from his father.

The woman’s grandfather, who owned a property in southwest Delhi’s Janakpuri, passed away without leaving a will in 1994. He was survived by his widow, a son, and a daughter. Following the death of the grandmother in 2023, the woman initiated a partition suit concerning the grandfather’s property, naming her father and paternal aunt as parties.

In his petition, the woman’s father, represented by advocate Vineet Jindal, asserted that the share in the suit property devolved solely on him and his sister under Section 8 of the Hindu Succession Act, and his daughter was not entitled to any share. To be sure, as per section 8, if a male Hindu dies without a will, his property devolves on his heirs to the exclusion of all other persons.

The woman, on the other hand, argued that she was entitled to the share inherited by her father, since her grandfather’s property was ancestral.

Rejecting the woman’s suit, justice Kaurav, in his 11-page verdict, released on Thursday, said that under Section 8 of the Hindu Succession Act, grandchildren do not automatically acquire a share in the property inherited by their father and that they have a right if their father dies before the grandfather.

“It is pertinent to note that grandchildren, who are not children of a predeceased child, are not included in the list of Class-I heirs. Therefore, if Section 8 is correctly appreciated, the suit property cannot be deemed to have devolved on the plaintiff upon the death of her paternal grandfather, her father being alive at the time of death of the grandfather. The suit property devolved solely on the defendants and their mother,” the bench ruled.

It added, “On an appreciation of the provision under Section 8 of the HSA and the aforenoted decisions, it could be concluded that the share of defendant no. 1 in the suit property is his absolute property, and the plaintiff does not have any right in the same. The right asserted by the plaintiff is not recognised by the rules of succession as per Section 8 of the HSA.”