JAMUNA DEVI Vs. CHET SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The revision is against the order upholding the claim of one of the sons staking his entitlement to the amount awarded by a reference court in a land acquisition case. The property belonged to one Gurcharan Singh and the property had been acquired and compensation assessed in the year 2007. The property, during the life of Gurcharan Singh, had been made the subject of bequest to his wife and two sons, wherein he has stated that the property shall be enjoyed by the wife for life out of the income from the agricultural land and after her life time the property shall be enjoyed by the two sons. With reference to his cash, which had been deposited in any bank or post office, he had directed that the said cash will go to his wife absolutely. The Will also contains a clause that his daughter and other children will not have any connection with his property and it was obligatory on the sons that they will look after his mentally retarded daughter Kamaljeet Kaur.

(2.) It appears that mentally retarded Kamaljit Kaur died on 11.8.2003. In this case, the point that arose for consideration was, whether the wife was entitled to make a bequest in respect of the property which she had been given as life interest by her husband. The court held that the property given to her was in recognition of a pre-existing right to be maintained and consequently the property given to her under the Will enlarged as full estate under Section 14 (1) of the Hindu Succession Act.

(3.) The wife had bequeathed the whole of the property which was acquired, in favour of one of her sons and the objection raised for a claim by the other son for a equal share in the amount determined in compensation was thwarted by the contention that the whole of the money would belong only to the son who has obtained bequest from the mother.