AIR 1978 SUPREME COURT 1791

Supreme Court Of India

(From:- AIR 1976 190)

Hon'ble Judge(s): V. R. Krishna Iyer, D. A. Desai , JJ

(A) Hindu Law - Debts - Legal necessity - Loan contracted by father for improvement of joint family lands - Partition while debt outstanding - Liability of land in the hands of coparcencers after partition for debt - Necessity of making coparceners parties to suit for recovery of debt - Pious obligation. Where father is the Karta of a joint Hindu family and the debts are contracted by the father in his capacity as manager and head of the family for family purposes, the sons as members of the joint family are bound to pay the debts to the extent of their interest in the coparcenery property. Further, where the sons are joint with their father and the debts have been contracted by the father for his own personal benefit, the sons are liable to pay the debts provided they were not incurred for illegal or immoral purposes. This liability arises from an obligation of religion and piety which is placed upon the sons under the Mitakshara law to discharge the father's debts, where the debts are not tainted with immorality. This liability of the sons to pay the father's debts exists whether the father be alive or dead. A further requirement is that for an effective partition of a Mitakshara joint Hindu family a provision for the joint family debts should be made. In order to determine what property is available for partition, provision must first be made for joint fa....