Overview
- A bench of Justices Pankaj Mithal and S.V.N. Bhatti dismissed the appeals and instructed the Family Court to determine the maintenance amount in Geeta Sharma’s case, with no order as to costs.
- Interpreting Section 21(vii) of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, the Court said the timing of the son’s death is immaterial and courts cannot read the word “predeceased” into the statute.
- Under Section 22, all heirs who inherit the estate are obligated to maintain dependants from those assets, subject to the proviso that the widow cannot obtain maintenance from her husband’s estate or from her children.
- The Court found that excluding widows based on when their husbands died would be arbitrary under Article 14 and could offend Article 21 by risking destitution and loss of dignity.
- The ruling arose from the estate of Dr. Mahendra Prasad, who died in December 2021, after which his son Ranjit Sharma died in March 2023 and his widow Geeta Sharma sought maintenance that the High Court had deemed maintainable.