Mother Entitled To Arrears Of Maintenance Accrued To Deceased Daughter: Madras High Court

"In so far as the arrears of maintenance have accrued due, it would in the nature of property which is heritable but a right to future maintenance is however not transferable or heritable by virtue of Section 6(dd) of the Transfer of Property Act."

Justice V Sivagnanam thus dismissed the criminal revision petition filed by the ex-husband of the deceased daughter challenging the order of the Judicial Magistrate wherein the court allowed the mother to be impleaded to collect the arrears of maintenance.

"In view of Section 15(1)(c) of the Hindu Succession Act, the mother is entitled to the property of her daughter. In this case, the arrears of maintenance accrued till the death of her daughter Saraswathi (wife of the petitioner). Therefore, the learned Judge rightly impleaded the mother of the deceased daughter (wife of the petitioner) in the petition for arrears of maintenance. There is no infirmity in the order passed by the learned Judge and no reason to interfere with the impugned order and no merit in the criminal revision case."

The petitioner Annadurai had married Saraswati in 1991. They got separated and Annadurai filed a divorce petition under the Hindu Marriage Act. After their divorce, Sarasqawti filed a maintenance petition and a monthly maintenance of Rs. 7500 was awarded, to be paid from the date of the petition. For collecting arrears of maintenance, Saraswati filed another application claiming Rs.6,37,500 as arrears. However, pending application, she died. Her mother, Jaya then filed a petition to implead her as petitioner and to allow her to recover the arrears. This application was allowed and was in review before the court.

Annadurai contended that maintenance was a personal right of Saraswati and after her death, no cause of action survived. He submitted that since there was no surviving cause of action, Saraswati’s mother was not competent to continue the proceeding and was not entitled to claim arrears of maintenance.

Jaya, on the other hand, submitted that the arrear amount was her daughter’s asset. Further, it was submitted that under Section 15(i)(c) of the Hindu Succession Act, the mother was a successor to her deceased daughter in the absence of sons and daughters. Jaya also submitted that after her daughter’s divorce, Annadurai ceases to be a legal heir. Thus, Jaya contended that she was competent to receive the arrears.

The court found force in Jaya’s arguments. It noted that as per Section 14 of the Hindu Succession Act, arrears of maintenance was the property of the wife. 

"In so far as the arrears of maintenance have accrued due, it would in the nature of property which is heritable but a right to future maintenance is however not transferable or heritable by virtue of Section 6(dd) of the Transfer of Property Act," said the court.

Case Title: Annadurai v Jaya

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Mad) 131