Adopted and biological children have similar rights: Madras HC

An adopted child is a legal heir of a parent, the Madras High Court has said. The adopted child must get all rights like a biological child, the court also said.

Justice K Ravichandrabaabu gave the ruling while allowing a petition from M G Mamtha and her adopted daughter C Soundarya challenging the rejection of their application for grant of legal heir certificate by a revenue department official.

The judge directed the tehsildar of Dhenkanikottai in Krishnagiri district to issue the legal heir certificate to them which they had applied after the death of Mamtha's husband and adoptive father of Soundarya last year.

The tehsildar had rejected the application on the ground that the second respondent being an adopted daughter cannot be considered as Class I heir as per the Hindu Succession Act.

Mamtha and her husband S Chandrasekar had adopted Soundarya, daughter of the former's brother, in 1987 as per the family's custom and a deed of adoption was entered into on November 24, 1994.

The judge said a perusal of the Hindu Succession Act and the decision of the Supreme Court would show without any ambiguity that an adopted child, from the date of the legal adoption, becomes the child of adoptive father or mother for all purposes.

It should be borne in mind that such adopted child is the child of the adoptive family by legal creation, which confers all rights on the adopted child as a biological child.Soundarya becomes the Class I heir of the deceased and thus, entitled to get her name also included in the heirship certificate, he said, directing issuance of the document.

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