Family co-owns property bought in homemaker wife’s name: HC

Unless it is otherwise proved the property was bought by an earning wife, the property was deemed to have been bought by the husband using his own income: HC

The Allahabad High Court has ruled that a property bought by a husband in the name of his homemaker wife, who doesn’t have an independent source of income, is joint-family property. The court held that it is common and natural for Hindu husbands to buy properties in the name of their wives.

The appellant Saurabh Gupta had filed a civil suit seeking a declaration that he is the co-sharer of 1/4th part of the property bought by his father (For representation)

While dealing with a man’s claim for declaration of co-ownership of his deceased father’s property, Justice Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal held, “This court under Section 114 of Indian Evidence Act may presume the existence of fact that the property purchased by a Hindu husband in the name of his spouse, who is a homemaker and does not have independent source of income, will be the property of family...”

The court observed that unless it is otherwise proved that the property was bought by an earning wife, the property was deemed to have been bought by the husband using his own income.

The appellant Saurabh Gupta had filed a civil suit seeking a declaration that he is the co-sharer of 1/4th part of the property bought by his father. He contended that since the property was purchased by his deceased father, he was a co-sharer in the same along with his mother, who is defendant in the suit and respondent in the present appeal before the high court. Since the property was purchased in the name of the mother, i.e the wife of the deceased, the appellant filed an application seeking an injunction against the transfer of the property to a third party.

In the written statement, the mother, who is the respondent-defendant pleaded that the property was gifted to her by her husband as she had no independent source of income. Accordingly, the application for interim injunction was rejected by the trial court.