Adoption Deed Not Must To Prove Adoption If Conditions Under Hindu Adoptions And Maintenance Act Are Established: Karnataka HC
The Karnataka High Court has held that an adoption deed or registered document is not a must to prove the adoption if conditions of valid adoption under the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 are established.
A Single Bench of Justice Shivashankar Amarannavar said, “Even Section 17 of the Registration Act, 1908 does not provide for compulsory registration of an adoption deed. Therefore adoption deed or registered document is not must to prove the adoption. If conditions of valid adoptions as required under the Act are established it is sufficient to prove the adoption.”
The Bench noted that it is the act of adoption and not the adoption deed which confers the status of the adopted son.
Advocate Syed Akbar Pasha appeared for the appellants while Advocate Gangadharaiah A.N. appeared for the respondent.
In this case, an appeal was filed for paying to set aside the judgment passed by the Civil Judge. The dispute was related to the partition and separate possession of the properties. The father of the appellants and respondent (sons) died about six years before filing a suit leaving them behind as legal heirs.
During the lifetime of the father, his sons were living together in a joint family, and thereafter upon his death, the revenue records came to be changed in the name of one of the appellants without the respondent’s consent. It was alleged that the said appellant was mismanaging the joint family properties. The Trial Court passed a decree in favour of the respondent and then the first appellate Court confirmed the same as a result of which the appellant approached the High Court.
The High Court after hearing the contentions of the counsel for both parties observed, “Even there is no evidence regarding the presence of said natural mother and adoptive mothers at the time of adoption function. Therefore, the evidence on record does not establish the ceremony of giving and taking and consent of the natural mother and adoptive mothers. … If really Sri. Nanjegowda had adopted the plaintiff – Ananda, he ought to have described in the Will (Ex.D.14) as his adoptive son. Said statement of Sri. Nanjegowda in the Will (Ex.D.14) is relevant under Section 32(5) of the Indian Evidence Act, 1862.”
The Court said that a perfectly valid adoption deed can be made without an adoption deed and any status which the adopted son gets by virtue of adoption is due to the proper ceremonies being performed and not any deed passed as evidence of that adoption.
“In the case on hand there is no adoption deed. Even the evidence led has not established that ceremonies of giving of the adopted child by the natural father and taking of child by the adoptive father. Even there is no whisper regarding the consent of the natural mother and adoptive mothers either in the pleadings or in the evidence”, further added the Court.
The Court concluded that the trial court rightly held that the appellant failed to prove the adoption of the respondent and that the first appellate Court even though right in dismissing the appeal has erred in holding that the registered adoption deed is a must for a valid adoption.
Accordingly, the Court answered the substantial question of law and dismissed the appeal.
Cause Title- N.L. Manjunatha & Anr. v. B.L. Ananda (Neutral Citation: 2023:KHC:23875)
