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It has been held that when an owelty is awarded to a member of a joint family on partition for equalization of the shares on an excessive allotment of immovable properties to another member of the joint family, such a provision of owelty ordinarily creates a lien or a charge on the land taken under the partition. The member to whom excessive allotment of property has been made on such partition cannot claim to acquire properties falling to his share irrespective of or discharge from the obligation to pay owelty to the other members. What he gets for his share is, the properties subject to the obligation to pay such owelty and that by necessary implication, an obligation on his part to pay owelty out of the properties allotted to his share. It was observed as under:

"18. It therefore follows that when an owelty is awarded to a member on partition for equalization of the shares on an excessive allotment of immovable properties to another member of the joint family, such a provision of owelty ordinarily creates a lien or a charge on the land taken under the partition. A lien or a charge may be created in express terms by the provisions of the partition decree itself. There would thus be the creation of a legal charge in favour of the member to whom such owelty is awarded. If, however, no such charge is created in express terms, even so the lien may exist because it is implied by the very terms of the partition in the absence of an express provision in that behalf. The member to whom excessive allotment of property has been made on such partition cannot claim to acquire properties falling to his share irrespective of or discharged from the obligation to pay owelty to the other members. What he gets for his share is therefore the properties allotted to him subject to the obligation to pay such owelty and there is imported by necessary implication an obligation on his part to pay owelty out of the properties allotted to his share and a corresponding lien in favour of the members to whom such owelty is awarded on the properties which have fallen to his share."

A Full Bench of Kerala High Court in a judgment reported as Parvathi Amma Vs. Makki Amma AIR 1962 Kerala 85 explained the concept of owelty and held that such amount is not a debt being a liability for which charge is provide under sub clause (b) of Clause (4) of Section 55 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882. The Court observed as under:

"4. ...The case of owelty is, in our view, very similar to the consideration for a release of the kind mentioned above. The co- sharer who accepts the lesser properties gives a part of his share to the other co-sharer in consideration of a sum of money which is called 'owelty'. In other words, owelty represents the unpaid price of the excess land taken from one co-sharer and given to another on partition; it is as if a portion of the property that really belonged to B has been assigned to A and A is made to pay the price therefore to B. B is therefore entitled to a vendor's share for the price remaining unpaid.
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7. ....As we have found owelty to be the price of land taken from one co-sharer & allotted to another on a partition, and that the charge for owelty is in substance, a vendor's charge for unpaid price, it is within the exception (vii) in the above definition and is, therefore, outside the purview of the Kerala Agriculturists Debt Relief Act, 1958."

In the concurring, but separate judgment by Hon'ble Mr. Justice Baghavan, J. it was mentioned that owelty is only part of the properties partitioned though it may not be part of the original properties. It was held to the following effect: