TMI Blog1959 (10) TMI 39X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e plaintiff's putative father was governed, illegitimate daughters were not entitled to maintenance. From that decree, the plaintiffs appeal. (2) Mr. Karanth, their learned advocate, has not seriously canvassed the finding recorded by the learned Subordinate Judge that under the Mitakshara School of Hindu Law, an illegitimate daughter is not entitled to maintenance from the estate that an illegitimate daughter is not entitled to such maintenance. That was the view taken by the High Court of Bombay in Parvati v. Ganpatrao Balal, ILR 18 Bom 177, and Bhikya v. Babu, ILR 32 Bom 562. That was also the view taken by the High Court of Madras in Vellaiyappa Chetty v. Natarajan, ILR 50 Mad 340: (AIR 1927 Mad 386). (3) If that was all that ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... state inherited by them from the deceased, create a right in the plaintiffs to be maintained by the defendants out of the estate of their putative father. Mr. Karanth has argued before us that that right would be available to the plaintiffs although their putative father in this case died before the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1946, came into force. The plaintiffs' putative father died in the year 1941 and the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act came into force on 21-12-1956. It is urged on behalf of the plaintiffs that although the plaintiffs are entitled to claim maintenance from the estate of their putative father only from the date of the commencement of the Act, it could not be said that they were not entitled to be so ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e provisions of that section, and that section makes no reference whatsoever to the right of an illegitimate child to be maintained out of the estate of a dead person. (10) Section 21 next defines 'dependants' and under clause (ix) of that section, an illegitimate daughter is also a dependant so long as the remains unmarried. (11) Section 22 provides for the maintenance of the dependants enumerated in S. 21. That section reads: Maintenance of dependents. 22. (1) Subject to the provisions of sub-s. (2), the heirs of a deceased Hindu are bound to maintain the dependants of the deceased out of the estate inherited by them from the deceased. (2) Where a dependent has not obtained, by testamentary or intestate succession, ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... es after the commencement of the Act. (13) We are unable to find in this section any right created in a dependant to be maintained out of the estate of a person who had died before the commencement of the Act. (14) Mr. Karanth, however, has suggested to us that sub-s. (1) of S. 22 creates a right in a dependant not only to be maintained out of the estate of a person who dies after the commencement of the Act but also out of the estate of one who had died before the commencement of the Act. He contends that sub-s. (2) which makes reference to the estate of a Hindu dying after the commencement of the Act is an independent provision which is in the nature of a proviso to sub-s. (1). In other words, his contention is that whereas every de ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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