Goa to make eldest daughter family head on property matters

GOANEWS DESK, PANAJI | 18 July 2012 13:54 IST

Chief minister Manohar Parrikar has agreed to do away with the discrimination among male and female in the Law of Succession in the Goa Civil Code.

The anomaly in the existing act was pointed out by opposition leader Pratapsing Rane.

Rane demanded that the word ‘male’ be removed from Article 2068 of the law, which would give the right to both male or the female, who is the eldest.

Article 2068 deals with Cabesa de Casal (Head of the Family) while appointing the head of the family for inventory proceedings of the property to partition the assets once a family member dies.

As per the information gathered in this regard, the right of family head goes first to the spouse of the deceased person, then the heirs living with the deceased, then the male to the female and then the oldest male among them.

It means the living male has a preference over the living female in the family, in spite of being the eldest among the family of the deceased.

Taleigao MLA Jennifer Monseratte also supported the demand, stating that the existing provision amounts to discrimination, providing raw deal to the female member while property prices are rising and only male members benefiting out of it.

Parrikar agreed to examine the issue today itself and bring the necessary amendment, provided it does not affect the ongoing process of reviving the whole Civil Code.

“I am open for any amendment to any civil law that discriminates between the male and the female”, Parrikar told the House.

He also informed that the law department is presently studying the whole Goa Civil Code in terms of rationalizing the act as per the changing situation in the society.  

The Goa Civil Code is largely based on the Portuguese Civil Code (Código Civil Português) of 1867, with some modifications based on the Portuguese Decrees on Marriage and Divorce of 1910, the Portuguese Decrees on Canonical Marriages of 1946 and the Portuguese Gentile Hindu Usages Decrees of 1880.

While even Portuguese have later modified the original code, Goa is still following the pre-liberation code that was adopted by the state once it got merged into Indian Union in 1961.

Curtorim MLA Alex Reginald Lourenco suggested an addition, while deleting the word male, “provided all the family members agree”.

The chief minister, at this juncture, suggested to the Congress members to come to him with a common viewpoint through their party leader in the House – Rane. 


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Goa needs equal gender laws

- The communidade laws may also be changed where the females get equal rights & preference viz: zonkar acts etc , Moira | 14 th April 2016 12:07

 

Tivim property not include daughters name

- Gavin castelino, Tivim | 19 th October 2015 07:38

 

I agree whole heatedly that the law must be changed to a fairer system of eldest child, be they male ore female should become the head of the family and have bearing on inheritance But that must not over rule any will that either parent has left. The Will of a parent should be followed with the eldest child taking charge if no executors have been nominated.

- Anne Ketteringham, France | 29 th August 2013 21:06

 

When it comes to changing of old laws, it is never good to act in hurry. Take lot of time and if required constitute committees of experts to study the result of the changes in any well established and time tested laws.

One of the best way to transfer any property to others is for all to make WILL. They will naturally give to those who take care of them in old age/when sick.

Work on WILLs.

- Francisco G. Lourenco, London | 26 th October 2012 00:33

 

sorry..... It seems from the assembly reports that parrikar knows that something is wrong with his decision because when wishnu wagh said lets have female mahajans he said there will be opposition from hindu experts. but he is not aware exactly what is wrong with his decision. his mistake is that he has not correctly understood the basic rule of Portuguese family law. The rule is husband and wife are one unit. Wife is equal partner in husbands assets and husband is also an equal partner in wifes assets. so when you make female head you are actually making son in law head of fathers in laws assets instead of the son. say for example your great grand father expired. your grand father had elder sister. by parrikars rule she and in turn her husband became head. your grand father is not in goa. you have a old house/portuguese villa. son in law behind the back of your family sells it to some delhi socialite and puts money in pocket. what can u do? i wish you well so i gave a far fatched example. but these are real cases. Parrikar is no expert in hindu law. he is a mining engineer. he can tell what is difference between cobalt and vanadium. Not whether saraswat brahmins fall under Northern, southern or western school of mitakshar or daybhag. Infact female mahajans was a good decision and also a safe one. Lets hope this govt improves afterall its still a fresh govt and there is always scope for improvement if you want to. if you want to built mayawati like statues of yourself then its a different matter! May the better wisdom prevail.

- Jayesh Nayak, Porvorim | 21 st July 2012 19:02

 

You are not wrong. Manusmriti is a smriti. Smriti means what the sage remembers about past what his elders told him. But Vedas and in turn bhagwadgita is a shruti which means what is heard. here Arjuna is the first person who heard what god said, Sanjaya is the second person who saw arjuna listening to the god, Dhritarashtra heard it from sanjaya, there was an independent witness Hanuman, on the flagpole, and sage Vedvyasa recorded everything for the betterment of mankind in the form of Mahabharata. So smriti is a secondary evidence because it is not direct knowledge and shruit is a direct knowledge of what god actually told mankind. In the case Shruti and smriti is in conflict Shruti prevails. Sage manu with due respect tells his desciples what he has heard from his guru and other ancient sages such as yadnavalkya what the rules for mankind are. Yadnavalkys guru is veishampayan and his guru is Vyasa and vyasa wrote Mahabharata recording what sanjaya saw god 'itself' told arjuna. See these are complex issues. Infact Vishnu Wagh knows everything. looking at assembly records it seems parrikar knows something is wrong.... to be continued.

- Jayesh Nayak, Porvorim | 21 st July 2012 17:17

 

...as far as my LIMITED knowledge / and little reading that I have done in Marathi and English,I can only say [may be I am wrong ]that Lord Krishna advised His cousin and disciple Arjun,at the battlefield of Kurukshetr ,who was highly confused and did not know what to do . Just to remove his doubts and prepare him for the noble Kshatriy`s duty of Yuddh..to fight for a noble cause ..Bhagvant narrated him Geetaa ! It is not a code in the legal sense.So,according to my little knowledge ,the first law giver of us ,is , Manu,the first law giver ! His Manusmruti is code of our law. If one visits the Rajasthan High Court ,in Jaipur,one can see the stachue of Manu in the garden in front of the premises. When Dr.Ambedkar presented our constitution ,in our parliament in the month of jan.1950,Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru ,our first P.M. said," Dr.Ambedkar is our modern Manu !"It is in the recordings of our parliament ! If ,someone happens to visit The Phillipines parliament in Manila...one will see a huge stachue of Manu,underneath of it is this statement ;-"

" THE FIRST,THE GREATEST , AND THE WISEST LAW GIVER OF THE MANKIND." ..Pl note that the Phillipines is a Christian Nation [96%]. I do not have anything more to add. And I am a small fry,an ordinary layman,and have NO authority/learning/doctorate/degree to qualify me to make comments on what is good or not good for our ladies or gents as far as inheritance or succession is concerned ! It is for the legal luminaries to discuss and finally take an appropriate decision .

- Dalvi, Goa | 20 th July 2012 13:22

 

mr dalvi, i appriciate your views. issues like these need to be discussed properly and the best solutions needs to be worked out. In the present assembly and govt there are no experts on such issues. Its ok for vishnu wagh to say let there be female head. In his bank safe deposit vault at the most there will be some poetry books and some novels max. But most affacted will be landed goan families, saraswat, catholic or otherwise. For example say mr dempo expired. In place of srinivas dempo his sister becomes female head. Now we are talking about properties worth atleat 4 billion dollers or 20 thousand crores. Has the implication of this on entire goan economy has been accounted by any expert? No. This was a hypothetical example. Take real case. The pernem court has only 1 job, decide property disputes of deshprabhu family. Iv seen male and females of this family fighting tooth and nail. Then there are cmm, chowgules and so on to the smallest flat and house owner. The best solution is what sandesh prabhudessai gave example of shashikala tai on language issue. Call for a conference of all legal experts on portuguese, hindu and other law and see what comes out of it. What is happening in this govt is something catches parrikars fancy, he impulsively declares it and then his chamchas like respetively ladies and gentelmen below starts dancing to the tune of oh great parrikar. Any one with different opinion is branded enemy of state, they want their address, for what? Physically assault us? My opinion is not on parrikar its on these idiots. As far as hindu law is concerned i stand by my opinion. Lord krishna is the final authority on hindu law and no mortal can change it.

- jayesh nayak, porvorim | 19 th July 2012 20:53

 

I think Mr. Parriker is doing very well so far. By picking such issue he is showing keen interest in state affares. I request Mr. Parrikar to work on Adoption Issue too to make the nessarry change.

- Winson, Kuwait | 19 th July 2012 10:57

 

I think ,the readers who comment on Hindu religious practice Must be aware thar Hindu dharma [dharma is not religion ,but way of life bound by some virtues ] is not static a or monotheist . It has changed ,changes and will certainly change in the future. It will be v interesting to know that the karta of ancient sanatan kutumbam or family was not the eldest son but it was a karti ,the mother. This system which is known as Matrusattak [matriarchal] is even today prevailant in the North Eastern India,myanmar,and among the tulu speaking Bunts of canaras [shettys],Nairs of Kerala and many other communities in India, and abroad. The ladies/mothers had the highest respect and matching authority in th olden times .This can be undoubtedly proved by the coastal canara/kerala males adopting the family names of their mothers-in -law. It can be further proved by our ancient system of addressing a male son .examples ...Gangey = son of Ganga = Bhishma; Radhey = son of Radha= Karna;Soubhadra=son of Subhadra ;Kountey=son of Kunti; Soumitra = son of Sumitra ; even in the sanskrit classical plays/dramas of great Kalidasa,Bhasa,Shudraka or Ashwaghosha ,the male progeny is always addressed as Sumitra Lakshamanaa or Koushalya Raamaa or Uttaraputraa/Urmilasootaa as such ! So ,this is as far as it is written in our ancient texts .And who wish to disagree/the cynics ,we cannot argue with them. One more imp.aspect as related to our dowry system ,we never had dowry system amongst our ancestors [both Hindus and today`s catholics]..it was introduced by foreigners .This can b proved by a practice in our Gavde/Gavddi bros. They have a system of Mai ponn, in which a son-in-law or his family has to pay the brides side some money,and also in kind.This system is also prevailant not only among our Goan Gavdes but also in the gavdes of canaras/kerala.

- Dalvi, Goa | 19 th July 2012 10:40

 

why only hindus mr jayesh? Which son will light candles on fathers grave if son in law is going to run away with all the ancestral property?

- peter, margao | 18 th July 2012 22:39

 

you guys just want to dance to parrikars tunes. This step shows parrikar has absolutely no knowledge of hindu religion though he does politics in name of hinduism. Idea of male head is same as concept of 'karta' of hindu family u/hindu law. Male head of family keeps the surname of family alive. That is continuation of blood line. He has most imp duty of making offerings to ancestors "shraddh".(read bhagvat gita chapter 1) female heads means son in laws will interfere in father in laws estates. This will destroy hindu families. Parrikars hindutva seems to be only limited to hate catholics and muslims and blindly follow dictats of parrikar. This is stupidity.

- jayesh nayak, porvorim | 18 th July 2012 18:32

 

I think the Dowry system,which is still prevalent, needs to be addressed in any equation.

- N Fernandes-London, London | 18 th July 2012 16:40

 

One hopes this extremely good step/move is NOT criticized or attacked by even the MCPs of our Goa. In fact `Bailancho saad` must see to it that this broad minded move is not opposed by anyone merely because it has come from our C.M....no one shd play politics ,at least in this case.

- Lina Vaz, salcette | 18 th July 2012 14:28

 

If Goa is following the old Portuguese Civil Code it is because post liberation MLA's were not competent enough to bring in the new legislation to do away with it. All laws which are made after liberation are full of loop holes to benefit the advocates to make money. The classical case is of the Tenancy Act..I wonder what the freedom fighters has to say about this. Otherwise, they are all allergic to the word Portuguese.

- A. Pinto, Olaulim | 18 th July 2012 14:26

 

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