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Property bought in name of homemaker wife is family property: Allahabad HC
The court further held that in such circumstances, it is necessary to protect the property from creation of third-party rights.
The Allahabad High Court has ruled that property bought by a husband in the name of his homemaker wife without having any independent source of income "will be the property of the family".
While hearing a case involving a son's claim for declaration of co-ownership of his deceased father's property, Justice Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal said that it is common and natural for Hindu husbands to purchase properties in the name of their wives.
"This court under Section 114 of Indian Evidence Act may presume the existence of fact that the property purchased by Hindu husband in the name of his spouse, who is homemaker and does not have independent source of income, will be the property of family, because in common course of natural event Hindu husband purchases a property in the name of his wife, who is homemaker and does not have any source of income for the benefit of family," the court observed as quoted by news agency PTI.
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The judge said that unless it is otherwise proved that the property was purchased with the income earned by the wife, the property is deemed to have been purchased by the husband using his own income.
The appellant, Saurabh Gupta, the son, had filed a civil suit seeking the status of co-sharer of one-fourth of the property purchased by his deceased father in the name of his mother.
Gupta argued that since the property was purchased by his deceased father, he was a co-sharer in it along with his mother, who is a defendant in the suit and respondent in the present appeal before the high court. Gupta had filed an application seeking an injunction (stay) against the transfer of property to a third party.
The mother gave a written statement that the property was gifted to her by her husband as she had no independent source of income.
The trial court rejected the application for interim injunction. In its February 15 judgment, the high court held that the property purchased by a Hindu husband in the name of homemaker wife, without any independent income, is deemed to have been purchased from his personal income. Such property, prima facie, becomes the property of the joint Hindu family.
The court further held that in such circumstances, it is necessary to protect the property from creation of third-party rights. "In such a case, the protection is necessary against further transferring the property or changing the nature of the same."
(With inputs from news agency PTI)
