Pious Obligation (పవిత్ర బాధ్యత)
- Family Law Sons Pious Obligation.
- Under the Hindu Law, a son is under a pious obligation to discharge his father's debts out of his ancestral property(పూర్వీకుల ఆస్తి) even if he had not been benefited by the debts, provided the debts are not avyavaharika debt or Impractical debit(అసాధ్యమైన డెబిట్).
- ‘Pious obligation’ means the moral liability of sons to pay off or discharge their father’s non-avyavaharik debts.
- The debts borrowed may not be of legal necessity or for benefit of estate.
- Thus, if the father is the Karta of a Hindu joint family, he may alienate the coparcenary property (సహకార ఆస్తి) for discharging the antecedent debts.
- Karta of a Family / Hindu Law. Karta means manager of joint family and joint family properties. He is the person who takes care of day to day expenses of the family looks after the family and protects the joint family properties.
- The main provisions of the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005 (హిందూ వారసత్వ (సవరణ) చట్టం,2005)are: In a Hindu Joint Family governed by Mitakshara law, the daughter by birth shall become a coparcener in her own right in the same manner as a son. She would have the same rights in the coparcenary property as that of a son.
- The sons are under the obligation to recover such alienated property by repaying the debts.
Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005 (హిందూ వారసత్వ (సవరణ) చట్టం,2005)
- The Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005,an amendment to the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, received the assent from President of India on 5 September 2005 and was given effect from 9 September 2005.
- It was essentially meant for removing gender discriminatory provisions regarding property rights in the Hindu Succession Act, 1956. It was a revolutionary step in the field of Indian legislation regarding rights of women in India.
Amendment of section 4 of the principal Act
In section 4 of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 , sub- section (2) has been omitted.
Amendment of Section 6 of the principal Act:
Section 6 in the principal act has been substituted by the amended provision. The amended provision under sec.6 of the principal act in essence defines as follows:-
- Daughter shall have the same rights in the coparcenary property as she would have had she been a son;
- The daughter shall be subject to the same liability in the said coparcenary property as that of a son;
- The daughter shall be allotted the same share as is allotted to a son;
- The share of the per-deceased son or a per-deceased daughter shall be allotted to the surviving child of such per-deceased son or of such per-deceased daughter;
- The share of the per-deceased child of a per-deceased son or of a per-deceased daughter shall be allotted to the child of such per-deceased child of the per-deceased son or a per-deceased daughter.
Furthermore, after the commencement of the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005, the pious obligation of a son, grandson or great-grandson for the recovery of any debt due from his father, grandfather or great-grandfather under the Hindu law, came to an end.
Exception:
The amendment , under clause 5 of section 6 provides an exception as follows:
5) Nothing contained in this section shall apply to a partition, which has been effected before the 20th day of December, 2004.
Explanation.- For the purposes of this section "partition" means any partition made by execution of a deed of partition duly registered under the Registration Act, 1908 or partition effected by a decree of a court
Key features & effect:
The amendment has tremendously balanced the property rights of male and female siblings. In 2008, the Supreme Court ruled that the law has retrospective effect, and for the daughter to become a co-sharer with her male siblings, the father would not have had to be alive on 9 September 2005. The Supreme Court also ruled that the amendment was applicable to all partition suits filed before 2005 and pending when the amendment was framed.
This amendment is in consonance with the right of equality as enshrined under Article 14, 15, & 21 of the constitution of India.