Overview
- A bench of Justices B. V. Nagarathna and R. Mahadevan declined to rule on a PIL challenging Section 15(1)(b) of the Hindu Succession Act and kept the constitutional question open for appropriate cases.
- The court appealed to women covered by the Act, particularly Hindu women, to execute wills under Section 30 and the Indian Succession Act to avoid disputes over self‑acquired property.
- It mandated pre‑litigation mediation when parents or their heirs claim the estate of a Hindu woman who dies intestate under Section 15(1)(c)–(e) where Section 15(2) does not apply.
- Any mediated settlement in such disputes must be treated as a decree of the court, with mediation centres and legal services authorities at state, district and taluka levels instructed to process applications.
- Section 15(1)(b) places the husband’s heirs ahead of a woman’s parents when she dies intestate without a husband or children, a framework the court noted may not reflect today’s realities of women owning self‑acquired property.