Lawfully yours: By Retd Justice K Chandru

Unmarried deceased person’s property will be shared among sibs, parents

Q: My ancestral property is registered under a Hindu Karta family arrangement. It is in three brothers’ names, including mine. Two of my brothers died. One older brother is married and has a wife and two sons. The deceased second brother is unmarried. Who is entitled to get the unmarried brother’s share of the property? Will it be divided equally among the elder brother’s wife and myself, or divided into three shares? To claim his share of the property, do I have to produce a Class 2 heir certificate for the deceased, unmarried brother? — Eravanan, Chennai

A: It is understood that there was no division of this ancestral property earlier and the survivors are now going to divide it. The two children of the deceased brother will get half of the share to which their father is entitled (from the share of the unmarried brother) and will share it equally. You, as the surviving brother, will get the other half of this share besides your original one-third share. While your share will be 1/3 + 1/6, your nephews will split their father’s share of 1/3 + 1/6 equally. You and your two nephews will have to enter into a partition deed of the property. The deed can be registered in the sub-registrar’s office where the property is registered.

SC had junked PIL against civilian awards; they’re losing charm though

Q: The Bharat Ratna award has become a political tool losing its intended value. It was designed to acknowledge, salute and honour great leaders of eminence and more particularly who stood for the nation’s unity in diversity. Now it reflects the political and electoral prejudices of the regime of the day. How can this trend be reversed? Don’t we have any guidelines on such matters? — Selvaganapati, Tiruchendur

A: The first thing the Constitution did was to abolish all titles. But after that, these awards were instituted. A public interest petition filed challenging these awards was dismissed by the Supreme Court stating that it will not be hit by Article 18 of the Constitution. However, going by how it has now been distributed – with blatant political considerations and vote bank requirements – it will slowly lose its charm. Over the period with the ‘Virdhu Wapsi’ actions, a time may come when no one will come forward to receive them.