M. R. Jayakar, J. - (1.) THIS is an appeal from a judgment and decree of the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, dated August 29, 1941, which affirmed tht judgment and decree of the Court of the First Civil Judge of Saharanpur, District Saharanpur, dated January 10, 1938.
(2.) THE parties are Hindus subject to the Mitakshara law of the Benares school, and this appeal involves the construction of the Hindu Law of Inheritance (Amendment) Act, 1929 (II of 1929), which is hereinafter referred to as "the Act". THE Act is not expressed to come into operation on a particular day. It received the assent of the Governor General on February 21, 1929, and under the provisions of Section 5 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 (X of 1897), it came into operation immediately on the expiration of February 20, 1929. The description and preamble of the Act make it clear that the object of the Act is to alter the order of succession of certain persons therein mentioned, namely, a son's daughter, daughter's daughter, sister, and sister's son, and to rank them as heirs in the specified order of succession next after a father's father and before a father's brother. The Act thus amends the old order of succession in Hindu law by introducing certain persons as heirs, who had no such place according to the ordinary interpretation of Mitakshara law. The Act is one of the several measures enacted during recent times, in a reformative spirit, with a view to bringing the ancient rules of Hindu succession into conformity with what are regarded as the changing conditions and sentiments of present-day Hindu society. It therefore selects certain relatives and gives them a preferential place in the order of succession, irrespective of their sex, over more remote relatives, on the ground that, judged by the pure test of blood relationship to the deceased owner, they are nearer heirs than those superseded by the provisions of the Act.
(3.) THE question for determination in this appeal is whether, on a true construction of the Act, it applies only to the case of a Hindu male dying intestate on or after February 21, 1929 (the date of its operation), or whether it also applies to the case of such a male dying intestate before that date, if he was succeeded by a female heir who died after that date. THE genealogical table relating to the parties in the case is on p.3. The facts giving rise to this litigation are as follows.;