Summary of this article
Supreme Court extends Section 22 rights to agricultural land inheritance.
Class I heirs get first chance before outsider purchases share.
Court clarifies that inheritance law applies equally to agricultural property.
If one of several siblings who inherit agricultural land wants to sell their share, the other Class I heirs must be given the first opportunity to buy it before the land is sold to an outsider. The Supreme Court has clarified that this right, provided under Section 22 of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, also applies to agricultural land.
Dispute Over Sale Of Family Land
The ruling came in a dispute over agricultural land inherited by siblings after their father's death. In 2011, some of the heirs agreed to sell their shares to a third party. Another sibling objected that, claiming, as a Class I heir, they had the first right to purchase those shares.
The trial court rejected the claim. However, the first appellate court ruled in favour of the sibling, relying on a separate Supreme Court judgment. The Punjab and Haryana High Court also supported the decision, after which the matter reached the Supreme Court.
Why The Earlier Judgment Did Not Apply
The appellants contended before the Supreme Court that such preferential rights of purchase had already been held unconstitutional by a Constitution Bench decision in Atam Prakash v. State of Haryana in relation to land acquired for agricultural purposes.
The Bench of Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice N. Kotiswar Singh disagreed. It said the case of Atam Prakash was a case under a completely different act, the Punjab Pre-emption Act.
Unlike Section 22 of the Hindu Succession Act, the Punjab law allowed various categories of individuals, including tenants, co-owners and their relatives, to claim the first right in buying the property. The apex court has also pointed out that Section 22 is much narrower because it applies only to Class I heirs who inherit property from the same person.
The judges also noted that the constitutional validity of Section 22 had never been questioned in the Atam Prakash case. Therefore, that judgment could not be used to deny rights available under the Hindu Succession Act.
Right Arises From Succession
In a separate but concurring opinion, Justice N. Kotiswar Singh observed that the right under Section 22 is part of the law governing inheritance and cannot be treated as a separate right relating to property transfers.
The judgment explained that this protection is available only to Class I heirs who inherit property together. It does not extend to tenants, distant relatives, co-owners or any other outsider.
The court also rejected the argument that Parliament lacked the power to make such a provision for agricultural land. Since there was no conflicting state law on succession in the present case, the Hindu Succession Act continues to govern the inheritance of agricultural land.
With the appeal dismissed, the Supreme Court has confirmed that Class I heirs retain the first right to buy inherited agricultural land before another heir transfers their share to an outsider.
