Married Daughters Get Share In Father’s Government-Allotted Land, Karnataka High Court Rejects Brothers’ Appeal

The Karnataka High Court has rejected a claim by two brothers who had argued that the land allotted to their father by the government could not pass to their married sisters.

A married daughter can claim a share in her father's agricultural land even if he received it from the government under the Karnataka Land Reforms Act, the high court in a case involving property dispute among four siblings.

The case centred on land granted to Shivappa by the state government. After his demise, his two sons opposed their married sisters’ demand for a share.

The court, however, found no legal basis to deny the daughters their inheritance rights under the Hindu Succession Act.

Brothers Oppose Sisters’ Claim To Agricultural Land

Shivappa received the land after filing Form No. 7 before the Land Tribunal in Savanur, Karnataka. He died on December 3, 2010, leaving behind his wife, two daughters and two sons, Basavaraj and Mahadevappa.

The family did not divide the property after his death. The dispute began when the two daughters approached the court seeking a one-fifth share in each piece of land. Their brothers argued that the property was neither ancestral nor part of a joint family estate. Since the government had granted the land to their father, they claimed that it had passed to them as his legal heirs.

The brothers also brought up a Hakku Bitta Patra (a release deed), claiming that their sisters had signed the document on June 15, 2006, giving up their rights over the property.

Hindu Succession Act To The Rescue

The high court looked at whether land granted under the Karnataka Land Reforms Act could be kept outside the Hindu Succession Act when deciding upon inheritance.

The court had relied on some previous decisions, and clarified that the Karnataka Land Reforms Act does not decide succession rights in such cases. 

The Hindu Succession Act applies when determining the legal heirs of a person who received land through an occupancy rights grant.

The court also said that a daughter can claim her share if the property is found to be joint. In this case, the lower courts had already reached that finding. The brothers failed to produce sufficient evidence to challenge it.

Sisters’ One-Seventh Share Upheld By High Court

The high court judgement has reiterated that a married Hindu daughter does not lose her right to inherit her father’s land simply because the property was granted to him by the government under the Karnataka Land Reforms Act.

The trial court had awarded each sister a one-seventh share in the property. The high court upheld the decision while dismissing the brothers' second appeal on September 24, 2026.

Even though the sisters had initially asked for a one-fifth share, the court did not alter the share fixed by the trial court.