New Delhi: In what may be called as a landmark verdict, setting new milestone for women’s rights, the Delhi High Court has declared that eldest woman of a Hindu undivided family (HUF) can be its ‘karta’, the head of manager of a joint Hindu family and its properties.

Justice Najmi Wazini, citing Section 6 of the Hindu Succession Act said that rights of a woman cannot be curtailed when it comes to management of property. She noted that earlier women were prevented from becoming the Karta because they did not possess necessary qualifications, but with amendment in the Hindu Succession Act in 2005, equal rights of inheritance were given to Hindu men and women. The original 1956 Hindu Succession Act has not mandated equal rights for daughters in ancestral property.

“It is rather an odd proposition that while females would have equal rights of inheritance in an HUF property, this right could nonetheless be curtailed when it comes to the management of the same. The clear language of Section 6 of the Hindu Succession Act does not stipulate any such restriction,” Justice Waziri said after hearing a suit filed by the eldest daughter of a north Delhi business family seeking entitlement as the ‘karta’ after death of her father and three uncles.

In the instant case, the family members had opposed plea of the women, asserting the rights only with respect to the inheritance of property and not its management.

The high court, however, rejected their argument, holding, “If a male member of an HUF, by virtue of his being the first born eldest, can be a ‘karta’, so can a female member. The court finds no restriction in the law preventing the eldest female co-parcener of an HUF, from being its ‘karta’.”