Law Commission For Amending Succession Laws

New Delhi, Jul 30 (UNI) Succession laws changed within the past six years are in for changes again recommended today by India's Law Commission, the Law and Justice Ministry reported.

In two Reports to Law and Justice Minister Hans Raj Bhardwaj, Commission Chairman A R Lakshmanan recommended amending the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 amended in 2005 and the Indian Succession Act, 1925 amended in 2002.

One Report recommended amending a section of the 1956 Act to include oral partition and family arrangement in defining partition, while the other suggested omitting from the 1925 Act a section seen as discriminatory towards several communities.

The Commission noted that Section 6 of the 1956 Act-- substituted in 2005-- applied to any partition made through a duly registered deed or a court decree, but failed to mention such common and legally accepted ways as oral partition and family arrangement.

The Commission said the amendment ''is absolutely necessary in public interest.'' The second Report dealt with the 1925 Act Section 213 of which made an exemption in respect of wills made by Muslims due to the Muslim Personal Law.

According to one expert, ''the stipulation imposed in respect of wills made by any Indian Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh or Jaina was the legacy of the colonial rule... extended to Parsis in 1962. '' An amendment in 2002 removed the discrimination against the wills executed by the Indian Christians, but it exists in some respects against wills made by Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jainas or Parsis, according to the expertise cited by the Commission.

The Commission recommended the repeal of section 213 altogether from the statute to remove the discrimination and attain uniformity.

UNI MJ AKJ KP2231