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Background of the Case The Karnataka High Court has urged the Union Government to review the amended Section 6 of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 , as modified by the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005. The Court observed that while the amendment rightly strengthened the inheritance rights of daughters in coparcenary property, it has inadvertently created ambiguity regarding the inheritance position of widows and mothers , who were previously explicitly protected under the unamended provision. The decision was delivered by a Division Bench comprising Justice R. Devdas and Justice B. Muralidhara Pai . Issue Highlighted by the High Court The Court noted that: The unamended Section 6 expressly recognised widows and mothers at the stage of a notional partition . Their entitlement to a share in ancestral property was clearly protected. However, the amended Section 6 (post-2005) gives equal coparcenary rights to daughters, but does not explicitly refer to: • widows • mothers • widows of...

Introduction — Supreme Court Reaffirms Duty to Ensure “Just Compensation” The Supreme Court of India has reiterated that courts adjudicating land acquisition disputes must not restrict compensation merely to the amount claimed by landowners, if evidence and statutory parameters justify a higher market value. A bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Vipul M. Pancholi held that land acquisition proceedings are not strictly adversarial in nature and that courts have a statutory and equitable duty to determine and award compensation in accordance with law, rather than limiting relief to what the claimant has pleaded. The Court clarified that once the correct market value of land is determined based on statutory factors, restricting compensation to a lower, claimed amount would defeat the mandate of the Land Acquisition Act. Case Background — Karnataka High Court Enhanced Value But Restricted Payable Compensation The dispute arose from land acquired for the Hirehalla Left Bank Canal P...

The Supreme Court of India has delivered a landmark ruling reinforcing the financial rights, dignity and constitutional protections of divorced Muslim women. In a significant judgment, the Court held that a Muslim woman is legally entitled to recover all property, cash, gold and other articles given to her or her husband by her family at the time of marriage. This decision strengthens the interpretation of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986, ensuring that divorced women are not denied their rightful property due to patriarchal norms or narrow statutory interpretation. Items Given at Marriage Are the Woman’s Property The Supreme Court categorically stated that all items given by the woman’s family to the groom’s side—whether in the form of dower (mehr), dowry, or gifts—must legally be treated as the woman’s property. The bench, comprising Justices Sanjay Karol and N. Kotiswar Singh, held that after the dissolution of marriage, these items must be returned ...

The Supreme Court of India, in a batch of writ petitions led by Writ Petition (Civil) No. 276 of 2025 , examined the constitutional validity of key provisions of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 . The petitioners argued that several amendments were violative of Articles 14, 15, 19, 21, 25, 26, 29, 30 and 300A of the Constitution, while the Union of India defended the law as a necessary reform to address misuse of Waqf provisions. Background of the Case Multiple writ petitions challenged amendments to the Waqf Act, 1995 (renamed as the Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency and Development Act, 1995). The contentious provisions included Sections 3(r), 3C, 3D, 3E, 9, 14, 23, 36, 104, 107, 108, 108A , among others. The primary challenges were against: Deletion of “Waqf by User” (customary usage-based waqf). Government property exemption (Section 3C). Protected monuments provision (Section 3D). Restrictions on Scheduled Tribe land (Section 3E). Inclusion o...