In Brief
Marappa Gounder, a self-employed coparcener, purchased property at auction in 1938. He died in 1949 leaving only a daughter, Kuppayee Ammal, who died issueless in 1967. The question was whether Kuppayee inherited the property (entitling her father's siblings' children to succeed her), or whether survivorship applied. The Supreme Court held that self-acquired property devolves by inheritance to a daughter, not by survivorship to the father's brother's son, even in joint families. Upon Kuppayee's death, the Hindu Succession Act 1956 applied. The father's siblings' daughters became Class-I heirs to the original owner and each received a 1/5th share. The Court reversed the lower courts' dismissal of the partition suit.
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