The Supreme Court ruled that illegitimate children were not only entitled to a share in the self-acquired property of parents but also in ancestral property.
A bench of justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly said in a judgement that such children cannot be deprived of their property rights as what was considered illegitimate in the past may not be so in the present changing society.
"The court has to remember that relationship between the parents may not be sanctioned by law but the birth of a child in such a relationship has to be viewed independently of the relationship of the parents.
"A child born in such a relationship is innocent and is entitled to all the rights which are given to other children born in valid marriage. Right to property is no longer fundamental but it is a constitutional right and Article 300A contains a guarantee against deprivation of property right save by authority of law," the bench said.
The bench disagreed with a plethora of earlier decisions taken by the SC in Jinia Keotin and several other cases that illegitimate children were entitled only to a share in the self-acquired property of the parents and nothing beyond that.
"In our view, in the case of joint family property, such children will be entitled only to a share in their parents' property but they cannot claim it on their own right. The only limitation even after the amendment seems to be that during the lifetime of their parents, such children cannot ask for partition (of property) but they can exercise this right only after the death of their parents.
The bench requested the CJI to set up a constitutional bench to examine the issue. "With changing social norms of legitimacy in every society, including ours, what was illegitimate in the past may be legitimate today," the bench said.
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