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October retail inflation rises to 6.09%, breaching RBI's upper tolerance limit. India's annual retail inflation increased from 5.54% in September to 6.09% in October, exceeding the Reserve Bank's upper tolerance limit of 6% for the first time in two years
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A Grandson Has No Claim While His Father Lives

By Our Editorial Team
First publised on 2026-11-13 03:32:23

About the Author

Sunil Garodia The India Commentary view

A grandson cannot claim his grandfather’s property while his father is alive and is himself an heir. The Supreme Court held so on 6 November 2026 in J. Rajesh (Minor) v. M. Kumaran (2026 INSC 1208). The ruling is sound.

The case began with a partition suit filed in 1993 over N Ramakrishnan’s property. His son, M Kumaran, received a plot under a 1994 compromise deed and sold it in 1997. Kumaran’s son, Rajesh, then a minor suing through his mother, claimed a coparcenary interest by birth. The trial court agreed. The appellate court set that decree aside. The Madras High Court and the Supreme Court upheld the appellate court.

The bench of Justices Augustine George Masih and Sunita Agarwal relied on the structure of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956. Under Section 8, the property of a man who dies without a will goes first to Class I heirs. The son of a predeceased son is in that class. The son of a living son is not. Parliament did not save the old right of a son’s son during his father’s lifetime. The Court rightly declined to restore it.

Partition completed the answer. Under Section 19, heirs take as tenants in common. Each holds an individual share and may sell it. The plot became Kumaran’s exclusive property. It did not stay joint family property in his hands merely because he had a son.

The ruling protects two interests that the law must protect. It protects the owner’s freedom to deal with what he owns. It protects buyers who rely on a partitioned title. A contrary rule would let any grandson reopen settled divisions.

The ruling also reminds readers of the divide between Mitakshara and Dayabhaga. Under Dayabhaga, which applies in West Bengal and Assam, a son has no right by birth in the family property. His right opens only when his father dies.

Families should act on this. A clear will and a properly recorded partition prevent disputes that otherwise run for decades. Rajesh’s suit was filed in 1997. It took 29 years to end. Courts cannot be asked to rewrite succession law to fit family expectations. That task belongs to Parliament.

 

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