Landmark verdict: Eldest female member of a family can be its "Karta, rules Delhi HC

New Delhi, Feb 1: In a landmark verdict recently, the Delhi high Court has ruled that the eldest female member of a family can be its "Karta".

Karta, the managership of a joint family is traditionally inherited by men in India.

"If a male member of a Hindu Undivided Family (HUF), by virtue of his being the first born eldest, can be a Karta, so can a female member. The court finds no restriction in law preventing the eldest female co-parcenor of an HUF, from being its Karta," Justice Najmi Waziri said in a judgment made public earlier this week, reported the Times of India.

Justice Waziri delivered this landmark judgement while responding to a suit filed filed by the eldest daughter of a business family in Delhi.

The woman claimed to be karta of her family after her cousin claimed to be karta of the family after woman's father and three her uncles passed away.

Woman's cousin brother who is younger to her claimed to be the next Karta of the family.

The HC ruling is important because it takes the 2005 reform in the Hindu Succession Act to its logical conclusion. While the amendment restricted itself to providing women equal inheritance rights, the verdict now allows them to manage property and rituals of a joint family.

OneIndia News