Operation of this act is prospective. Hindu succession act 1956 operates not from the date of coming in to force of the act but from the death of the estate holder.
The act is extended to whole India except Jammu & kashmir.
Who are the estate holder and to whom this act is applicable? The estate holder means a person who is Hindu , Buddhist, Jaina & Sikh possessed an immovable property and dies without bequeathing a will ( making will of estate for heirs after his death )comes under this act .if he had bequeathed a will than Indian Succession ac 1925 would be applicable to the estate.
The act is applicable to any person who is Hindu by religion, including Virashaiva & Lingayat (Hindu originated in Karnataka India around 12th century) ,follower of Brahmo,,Prarthana or Arya Samaj (social religious reform moment founded in India by Swami Dayanand Saraswati in 1875)
Along with Hindus it is also applicable to the person by religion who is Buddhist, Jaina & Sikh. It is not applicable to the person who is Muslim, Parsi, Jew by religion because they are not governed by custom or usage of Hindu law .
Hindu person includes :
- Any child whether the child is legitimate(who had been born from legal married i.e. legally recognized marriage of parents here child has full legal status)or illegitimate child ( child born to a parents are not legally married child had limited inheritance right)whose both parents are Hindus, Buddhist,Jaina & Sikh
- Any child whether he is legitimate or illegitimate one of whose parents are Hindus Buddhist, Jaina & Sikh (in other words we can say one of the parent is not following any of the above religion) and brought as the member of the tribe ,community or group of family to which one of the parent belong than too child would be considered as hindu and this act is applicable to the child
Any person who had converted himself as Hindu, Parsi, Jain,& Sikh from other religion the act is applicable to him, even if he is Hindu and converted himself to other religion again had reconverted to Hindu religion act applies again to that person.
This act is extended to whole India except Jammu &Kashmir and also to the reconant of Pondicherry state under State Amendment act.
STATE AMENDMENTS
In sec 2, after sub-section (2), insert-(2-A) Not withstanding anything contained in sub sec (1), nothing contained in this act shall apply to Reconants of the Union Territory of Pondicherry.-Regn 7 of 196.3
In the other words the act does not apply to the Reconants of Pondicherry .Reconants are the native resident of Pondicherry who chose to be governed by the French law civil code instead of their personal laws (like Hindu or Muslim law)
during the period when Pondicherry Pondicherry was under French rule.
Pondicherry was under French rule. The term Reconant refers to someone who renounced their personal law and adopted the French law.
ACT DOES NOT APPLY TO CERTAIN PROPERTIES
Sec 5 : The act does not apply to certain properties. Which are regulated by Indian Succession Act 1925, reason of the provision contained sec 21 of special marriage act 1954.
In other words we can say that Sec 5 of Hindu Succession Act 1956 Indian Succession Act 1925and sec 21 of the Special Marriage act 1954 are correlated to Succession of property specifically in cases involving marriages under the Special Marriage Act. Section 5 of the Hindu Succession Act excludes properties whose succession is governed by the Indian Succession Act due to Section 21 of the Special Marriage Act. This means that if a marriage is solemnized under the Special Marriage Act, the succession to the property of the individuals marrying under that Act, and their descendants, is governed by the Indian Succession Act, not the Hindu Succession Act.
Those properties where succession is determined by a covenant or agreement made by the ruler of an Indian state with the Indian government, or by an enactment predating Succession Act.
In other words convenant (promise or undertaking) or agreement between ruler of princely state and Indian government means the ruler of the princely state (king or price) signed the covenants or agreement with Indian government The document is essential because it is enlisted with the terms such as merger, including the rulers position ,previliges and the process of succession to the gaddi(throne).
The act is also not applicable to Valiamma Thampuran Kovilakam estate and Palace Fund was a joint Hindu family property of the Cochi Royal Family , established by proclamation in 1949 to manage the family’s ancestral properties
And fund .The Fund was not initially intended to be impartible (not subject to partition among individual family members) and was administered by a Board of Trustees. A 1961 Act(No.16 of 1961)provided for the partition of the estate and fund.