CHENNAI: The state government has issued fresh guidelines and procedures for issuance of legal heir certificates overriding the earlier order by taking into account Class II of the Hindu Succession Act of 1956.
The Commissioner of Revenue Administration revised the order earlier this month. As per the amendment, in case of death of a married person, spouse(s) of the deceased, legal heir certificate will be provided to more than one spouse, if permissible under relevant personal law; the children or legally adopted children and parents of the deceased.
Similarly, in case of death of an unmarried person, parents and siblings of the deceased are eligible for the certificate. If both spouses had died without children, the certificate could be provided to parents and siblings of the deceased.
In the case of death of remarried person after the demise of the legally wedded wife or after divorce granted by a competent court, children of the pre-deceased or legally divorced wife, existing spouse(s) of the deceased, parents, children and legally adopted children would be issued the certificate.
The earlier order issued in September 2022 came out with guidelines and procedure of issuing legal heir certificates, but the Madras High Court last year observed that order does not appear to have taken into account Class II of Hindu Succession Act.
The earlier order stated that legal heir certificate of the deceased (in case of married person) will include only the following members — father of the deceased; mother of the deceased; spouse of the deceased; sons of the deceased and daughters of the deceased. Class II heirs are not entitled to receive the certificate issued by a tahsildar.
Now, the new order has been passed after taking into account the Madras High Court order dated July 10, 2023. The court was hearing a petition that questioned the G.O. passed on September 29, 2022. The court said while framing the order which was passed on September 29, 2022, the government should have spent time on correctness of the G.O. in the light of what the personal law of the country says in this regard, it observed. The GO also said the certificate can’t be equated to a succession certificate issued by court. It also added that the implementation of these guidelines and issuance of certificate thereon would not be enforceable for any certificate issued prior to these guidelines.