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Panna Lal Hazra vs Fulmoni Hazra And Ors. on 23 May, 1986 cites

Gulzara Singh Nanta Singh vs Smt. Tej Kaur on 26 October, 1960

4. under Section 22 of the Act, the defendant step-son would be liable to maintain his stepmother, as being the widow and therefore a "dependant" of his deceased father within the meaning of Section 21(iii) of the Act; but the liability under Section 22(1) is not at all personal, but absolutely proprietary as would be apparent from the relevant provisions of Section 22(1) which provide that "the heirs of a deceased Hindu are bound to maintain the dependants of the deceased out of the estate inherited by them from the deceased". The defendant would, therefore, be liable to maintain his step-mother as being the dependant of his deceased father, provided the defendant as heir of his deceased father has inherited some estate from his deceased father. It is true that notwithstanding the user of the expression "inherited" in Section 22(1), it has been held by I. D. Dua, J., (as his Lordship then was) in a Division Bench decision of the Punjab High Court in Gulzara Singh v. Tej Kaur, that the word 'heir' in Section 22(1) must be construed in a broad and general sense so as to include all those on whom the estate of the deceased devolves whether on intestacy or by means of a testamentary instrument like a will. But even then, there is no finding by the courts below that the defendant, as 'heir' of his deceased father, has acquired, whether by testamentary or intestate succession, any estate of his deceased father. Then again, under Section 22(2), the dependant of the deceased would be entitled to maintenance from the heir of the deceased, provided such dependant has not acquired, whether by testamentary or intestate succession, any share in the estate of the deceased. If the widow of a deceased has also succeeded as one of his heirs, whether through testament or on intestacy, the question of her right to be maintained by some other heir of the deceased out of the estate of the deceased would not arise. But we do not find any firm finding that the plaintiff, even though she was undisputedly an heir to her deceased husband, has not obtained, by testamentary or intestate succession, any share in her deceased husband's property. We are of the view that without any firm finding as to the defendant having acquired by testamentary or intestate succession some property from his deceased father and as to the plaintiff not having obtained any such property, it would not be legally possible to hold that the plaintiff stepmother, who is not childless, is entitled to be maintained by the defendant step-son.
Punjab-Haryana High Court Cites 8 - Cited by 10 - I D Dua - Full Document
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