The right to maintenance of a Hindu widow is not a “mere formality” but a spiritual and moral right that can be judicially enforced upon by claiming “absolute right” on the property given to her for sustaining herself, the Supreme Court has ruled.<\/p>\n
A bench, headed by Justice M Y Eqbal, while upholding a Andhra Pradesh High Court verdict in favour of a widow who had transferred the property willed to her by her husband for her lifetime to a relative, said it was the woman’s “absolute right” and she was free to bequeath the property.<\/p>\n
“It is well settled that under the Hindu Law, the husband has got a personal obligation to maintain his wife and if he is possessed of properties, then his wife is entitled to a right to be maintained out of such properties.<\/p>\n
“It is equally well settled that the claim of Hindu widow to be maintained is not a mere formality which is to be exercised as a matter of concession, grace or gratis but is a valuable, spiritual and moral right,” the bench, which also comprised Justice C Nagappan, said.<\/p>\n
Referring to various judicial pronouncements, it said that though the right of a widow to be maintained does not create a charge on the property of her husband but she can certainly enforce her right by moving the Court for passing a decree for maintenance by creating a charge.<\/p>\n
Discussing the details of the case at hand, the bench said, “In our opinion in whatever form a limited interest is created in her favour who was having a pre-existing right of maintenance, the same has become an absolute right by the operation of Section 14(1) of the Hindu Succession Act.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The right to maintenance of a Hindu widow is not a “mere formality” but a spiritual and moral right that can be judicially enforced upon by claiming “absolute right” on the property given to her for sustaining herself, the Supreme Court has ruled. A bench, headed by Justice M Y Eqbal, while upholding a Andhra […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37372,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8911,1],"tags":[34526,31987,5665,23967,34524,34525],"class_list":["post-39850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family-law-news","category-top-law-news","tag-absolute-right-on-maintenance-property","tag-featured","tag-justice-c-nagappan","tag-justice-m-y-eqbal","tag-widow-can-claim-absolute-right","tag-widow-can-claim-absolute-right-on-maintenance"],"yoast_head":"\n