Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956

The mother of the deceased plaintiff filed a suit for permanent injunction against the appellant, claiming possession of land inherited from her husband. The plaintiff died and the appellant, an adopted son, was substituted as legal heir. The trial court dismissed both the suit and the counter‑claim but allowed the sub…

The case concerned property bequeathed by Somasundram Pillai in 1950 to his wife Sellathachi and his cousin's widow Janakathachi as maintenance. After the testator's death the widows possessed the land, but a power of attorney later alienated it, prompting a suit to declare the alienations illegal. The question before …

Pentakota Srirammurthy executed a registered will in 1980 bequeathing a portion of his self‑acquired property to his first wife, Seetharatnam, and the remainder to his children by his second wife, Alla Kantamma. After his death, Seetharatnam and Krishna Bhagavan (who claimed to be an adopted son) filed suits seeking ma…

M. V. Chandrakanth (appellant) challenged a Division Bench of the Karnataka High Court that had set aside a Single Judge's order dismissing a writ petition filed by Respondent No.1, who claimed Other Backward Class (OBC) reservation as a member of the Ganiga caste. The central issue was whether a person belonging to th…

The appellant, a wife, sought maintenance under Section 18 of the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act after separating from her husband, who later obtained an ex‑parte divorce decree and remarried. The Family Court granted modest maintenance, which the High Court later enhanced, but the appellant argued that the respond…

The mother, Akella Lalitha, gave birth to a child with her first husband Konda Balaji, who died shortly after. She later remarried Akella Ravi Narasimha Sarma, and the child's grandparents sought guardianship and visitation, later prompting the High Court to order a restoration of the child's original surname and to re…

The wife, Jasbir Kaur Sehg al, filed for divorce and, having no income, was supporting her eldest unmarried daughter. She applied for maintenance pendente lite under Section 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act, which the High Court had enhanced to Rs 1500 per month. The Supreme Court examined whether maintenance should also c…

Aishwarya Atul Pusalkar, the wife of respondent No.8, sought a writ directing the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) to re‑house her in two flats (Nos. 601 & 602) of the redeveloped building, which she claimed as her matrimonial home. The High Court dismissed the writ, holding that the matter wa…

The appellant, an unmarried woman, lived with the respondent, a married man, for about 14 years and claimed that his failure to maintain her constituted domestic violence under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005. The respondent argued that their relationship was a mere live‑in arrangement, not a "…

Sh. Rakesh Raman filed a petition for divorce under Sections 13(1)(ia) and (ib) of the Hindu Marriage Act, alleging cruelty and desertion by his wife, Smt. Kavita. The parties had been living apart for about 25 years, with no children, and had been involved in multiple criminal litigations against each other. The trial…

The plaintiffs, the first wife Kashi Bai and her daughter Sunita, sued for a half share in the property of their deceased husband Lachiram, alleging he was the sole owner at his death. The defendants, the second wife Parwati Bai, her daughter Meena and grandson Purshottam, contended that Lachiram had adopted Purshottam…

Vyankat, the sole surviving coparcener of a Hindu joint family, died on 8 February 1978. Four months later his widow Krishnabai adopted Dattatraya. The plaintiffs, Vyankat's children, sued for partition claiming their statutory shares, while the defendants argued that the adopted son was also entitled to a share. The t…

The case concerned the estate of the late R. Rosaiah, whose widow Lakshmamma (L) had been granted a life interest in his properties under a compromise decree. L later remarried in 1953 and attempted to adopt a boy as the heir of her first husband, which the trial court rejected. The principal questions were whether L's…

The appellant, Ratanlal, claimed to have been adopted by his maternal uncle Govardhandas in 1973, despite being a married man of 32 years. The adoption was contested by the plaintiff, Sundarabai, who sought a declaration that the adoption never occurred. The trial court accepted the adoption, but the Bombay High Court …

The appellant wife filed a petition under Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code seeking maintenance, alleging that her husband, who had sufficient means, had neglected and refused to maintain her and was living with another woman. The husband contended that the wife could not prove a second marriage under Section …

J.V.V. Bhaskar was adopted by J.K. Rao after being fostered by him since 1957. Before the adoption, the parties executed an ante‑adoption agreement in which Bhaskar, a major, agreed not to claim certain properties that had already been settled in his favour. Bhaskar later sued, contending that the agreement violated Se…

The respondent claimed to be the adopted son of Late Anne Seetharamaiah, seeking possession of land purchased at auction by the adoptive father. The appellant contested the adoption, arguing that the respondent was over 15 years old at the time of adoption, which under Section 10(iv) of the Hindu Adoption and Maintenan…

The appeal concerned whether Bhonri Devi, a Hindu widow, became the absolute owner of an ancestral HUF house she occupied in lieu of her pre‑existing right to maintenance. The Supreme Court examined Section 14(1) of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, interpreting "possessed by" and "acquired" in its widest sense to includ…

The respondent filed an eviction suit after tenant Ramesh Chand Ganguly died intestate, claiming the tenancy ended. The appellant, Nilima Mukherjee, asserted she was the adopted daughter of the deceased and therefore entitled to continue as tenant. To prove adoption she relied on a joint bank account and a freedom‑figh…

Harnek Singh filed a suit claiming he was the adopted son of the deceased Sarup Singh and that a gift deed executed by Sarup Singh in favour of Pritam Singh and Surjan Singh was void. The plaintiff was about 23 years old and married with children at the time of the alleged adoption in 1982. Under the Hindu Adoption and…

Satish Chander Ahuja, the father‑in‑law, owned a house in New Delhi and sued his daughter‑in‑law Sneha Ahuja for mandatory and permanent injunction to remove her from the first floor. Sneha had earlier filed an application under Section 12 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, obtaining an interi…

The husband and wife married in 1987, after which the wife sought maintenance under Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code. The parties later entered into a compromise under Order 23 Rule 3 of the Civil Procedure Code, agreeing that the wife would receive a lump sum of Rs 8,000 as permanent alimony and would not cl…

The Supreme Court examined appeals filed by the victims of an interstate child‑trafficking racket challenging the High Court's grant of bail to thirteen accused persons charged under IPC sections 363, 311 and 370(5). The Court found that the High Court had ignored crucial factors such as the seriousness of the offence,…

Shakuntala, the natural daughter of the deceased Sunda Ram, sued to be declared owner of his property, challenging a registered adoption deed that named Jai Singh as an adopted son. The trial court and two appellate courts held that the adoption was invalid and decreed in favour of Shakuntala. On appeal, the Supreme Co…

The wife, who had a prior marriage that was never dissolved by a court decree, married the appellant after his first wife's death. The husband filed a suit to declare the second marriage void under Section 5(i) and Section 11 of the Hindu Marriage Act, while the wife sought judicial separation and maintenance for herse…

Ghisalal claimed to be the adopted son of Gopalji and sought a one‑half share in Gopalji's ancestral property, asserting that the adoption was valid because Gopalji's wife, Dhapubai, had consented. The trial court, appellate court and High Court presumed Dhapubai's consent from her mere presence at the adoption ceremon…

The plaintiff filed a partition suit claiming a half‑share in the ancestral properties of her father Fakirappa, who died leaving two daughters. The husband of the other daughter (Defendant No.1) contended that he was the adopted son of Fakirappa and that the suit‑house property (item 3 of the schedule) was his self‑acq…

The case concerned an eviction suit filed by a landlord under the Karnataka Rent Control Act against a tenant, H.S. Anand, who had deserted his wife, B.P. Achala Anand, leaving her in the tenanted matrimonial home. The wife sought to be impleaded and to contest the eviction, arguing that she retained a right to residen…

Mishri Bai, a crippled Hindu woman married to Padam Singh, lived separately from her husband and in 1970 claimed to have adopted Brajendra Singh, seeking to treat them as a joint family to retain excess agricultural land under the Madhya Pradesh Ceiling on Agricultural Holdings Act. The trial court and first appellate …

Savitaben Somabhai Bhatiya claimed maintenance under Section 125 of the CrPC, asserting that she was married to the respondent under customary rites while he already had a living wife. The trial court and High Court had granted her maintenance and that for the child, but the High Court held that she was not a legal wif…

Basappa filed a divorce petition under Section 13(1)(i‑b) of the Hindu Marriage Act and obtained an ex‑parte decree on 15‑12‑1989. Basappa died on 26‑05‑1990; the wife, Shantavva, claimed she only learned of the decree on 31‑03‑1990 and was not properly served, filing an application under Order IX Rule 13 CPC to set as…

The suit property was a house jointly purchased in 1963 by T.G. Seshagiri Rao and his uncle T.K. Vasudeva Murthy. The uncle later relinquished his interest to Rao by a release deed in 1989, making Rao the absolute owner. After the death of her husband (Vasudeva Murthy's son), the appellant, G. Rama, occupied the house …

The deceased headmaster of a government school died intestate, leaving his brother and nephew as natural heirs. The nephew, Dhirjo Kumar Sengar, applied for a compassionate appointment claiming to be the deceased's adopted son, supported by an unregistered deed of adoption and a succession certificate. The Joint Direct…

The husband filed a petition for divorce on the ground that his wife suffered from schizophrenia. The Family Court granted the decree of divorce, which was affirmed by the High Court. The wife appealed only to challenge the findings on her alleged mental disorder and to claim a lump‑sum permanent alimony of Rs 75 lakhs…

The husband appealed against a High Court order directing him to reimburse his wife’s medical expenses incurred after she fell down the stairs. The wife had filed an application under Section 151 of the CPC in a pending matrimonial suit under the Special Marriage Act, 1954, seeking medical reimbursement. The Supreme Co…

The appellant, Shobha Suresh Jumani, wife of a detenu whose properties were ordered forfeited under the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act, 1976, filed an appeal claiming to be a "person aggrieved" under Section 12(4) of the Act and also sought maintenance under the Hindu Adoption …

The appeal concerned a suit for partition of a family property where the plaintiff claimed that the original owner, Jagannath, had adopted his sister's son, Chandra Bhan, under a custom of the Vaish community that permitted such adoptions. The respondents argued that no such custom existed and that the adoption was inv…

The dispute arose after the death of Chiranjilal Srilal Goenka, whose daughter claimed inheritance under a will, while his adopted son claimed rights based on a letter dated 26‑January‑1961 from his natural father promising him inheritance. An arbitrator held the will inoperative and declared the adopted son the sole h…