A Coparcener is a member of HUF who can claim partition whereas a Member cannot claim partition. This is the basic difference between the Coparcener and the Member. Thus it follows that all the coparceners are members of HUF but the vice versa is not true. Wife cannot claim a partition, but if there is a partition between her husband and children, she gets equal share. A widow steps in the shoes of her deceased husband and can claim partition.
In the, case of Sathyaprema Manjunatha,Gowda v. CED, (1997,) 1OSCC 684, at page 687 [(1997) 227 ITR 1 1 coparcenary is a narrower body than a joint family and consists of only those persons who have taken, by birth, an interest in the property of the holder for the time being and who can enforce a partition whenever they like. It commences with a common ancestor and includes a holder of joint property and only those males in his male line who are not removed from him by more than three degrees. Thus while a son, a grandson or a great-grandson is a coparcener with the holder of the property, the great-great-grandson cannot be a coparcener with him, because he is removed by more than three degrees from the holder. Hindu Undivided Family is a concept and coparcenary is not one of the same under the Hindu Law. But for the purposes of taxation under the Act, as in other tax measures, like the Income Tax Act, they are treated as one and the same. |
