Case Commentary: Uttam v. Saubhag Singh & Ors. (2016) – Partition and Coparcenary under Hindu Law

The case of Uttam v. Saubhag Singh & Ors. (2016) refers to the meaning of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, mainly whether a grandson can acquire the coparcenary rights by birth in ancestral property which had already passed by intestate succession. The issue was at dispute in Dewas at Madhya Pradesh, where Uttam petitioned a partition suit in 1998 against his father and paternal uncles on the basis of a 1/8th portion of the property that was family joint property. The issue was of whether a man may assert the birthright to property which was no longer joint at his birth and whether a grandson may assert partition where his father was living, being the Class-I heir. In its decision the Supreme Court accepted that Uttam was never made a coparcener and, according to this, could not continue a partition suit. The ruling made it clear that Hindu law does not impose coparcenary rights on the descendants who were born subsequent to the devolution of the property.