The Karnataka High Court has confirmed that married daughters can claim shares in joint family land granted to their predecessor under the Karnataka Land Reforms Act.
Justice B. Muralidhara Pai held on 24 September that the Hindu Succession Act governs inheritance and overrides the land-reform legislation on succession questions. A daughter’s marriage does not extinguish her right where the property continues to be joint.
The dispute concerned family members who traced their claims through the same predecessor. The defendants argued that daughters could not seek partition because the holdings were formerly tenanted lands and occupancy rights had been granted under the state statute.
Rejecting that argument, the court followed earlier Karnataka and Supreme Court authority and found no material justifying a different view. It dismissed the regular second appeal and left intact the lower courts’ recognition of the daughters’ shares.