Indian Legal System > Civil Laws > Family Laws > The Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 > Introduction
In order to have one uniform law all over India, so far as Hindus and others to whom The Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 is made applicable, the said Act was enacted.
In India each community has its own family law, though its members may be domiciled, settled or residing in any part of the country, they are governed by the same personal law which applied to their community. In Modem Hindu Law, the schools e.g. Dayabhaga, Mitakshara, etc. have still relevance in respect of un-codified part of Hindu Law particularly joint family and partition. As to the marriage, matrimonial causes, minority, guardianship, Adoptions, Maintenance and succession, Hindu are uniformly governed by the one single system of law i.e. codified part of Hindu Law which includes the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. The Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956, the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956 and the Hindu Succession Act, 1956.
Adoption is the act of establishing a person as a parent to one who is not in fact or in law his child. Thus, adoption signifies the means, by which status or legal relationship of parent and child who are not so related by nature, is created. It is a process by which people take a child who was not born to them and raise him or her as a member of their family. As a result of a decree of adoption, the child becomes the child of the adoptive.
Adoption in India:
Adoption in Hindus (Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, and Jains) governed by the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956. In India there is no separate adoption laws for Muslims, Christians, and Parsis, so they have to approach the court under the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890 for legal adoption.
In India only legal adoption is recognized and valid, Hence we have to understand the meaning of the phrase “Legal Adoption” first. According to section 2(aa) of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Act, 2006, “adoption means the process through which the adopted child is permanently separated from his biological parent and becomes the legitimate child of his adoptive parents with all right, privileges and responsibility that are attached to the relationship”.
In India, an Indian whether he is married or single, Non-Resident Indian (NRI), or a person belonging to any nationality (foreigner) may adopt a child. The guidelines and documentation process for each group of adoptive parents may differ.
The Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956:
Objectives of the Act:
The various forms of adoptions and various customs regarding adoption has been sought to be abolished and to have one common law for all the Hindus. The Hindu Law as it was before its codification, was (most part of it) to be found in the various smrities, shruties, Nibandhas, and judicial decisions. They varied from State to State and among different castes and families. In order to simplify the Hindu Law, and to bring it in tune with the demand of time it was thought necessary to amend it and to enact the entire law as far as possible so that one may not be required to travel over a very large number of judicial precedents and in the absence of precedent to find out the law in the ancient texts. Thus the main objective was codifying the rules pertaining to Adoptions and Maintenance among the Hindus.
In Ramaswamy v. Baghyammal AIR 1967 M-457 case, the Court opined that The Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956, amended and codified, is exhaustive of the subject to the extent to which it has dealt with it.
Enactment of the Act:
The Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 received the assent of the President on December 21, 1956, and was published in the Gazette of India on December 22, 1956. As no date was fixed the commencement of the Act came into force on the day when it received the assent of the President i.e. 21.12.1956.
The Extent of the Act:
As Section 1 Sub Section (2) lays down that the Act extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir. The exception is made in view of Article 370 of the Constitution.
Due to presidential order on 5th August 2019 abrogation of Article 370 of the constitution has taken place and both houses of Parliament has approved it. All the Central Acts are applicable to the Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
It has no extra-territorial operation.
On 20 December 1961, the territories of Goa Daman and Diu were included in the Union territories. But as Section 5(1) of the Goa, Daman, and Diu(Administration) Act 1 of 62, provides that all laws in enforce immediately before 20.12.61 in those territories shall continue to be in force, it would appear that this Act is not applicable in those territories. Though Section 6 of the Act provides that the Central Government may by notification extend any enactment with such restrictions and modification as it things fit to Goa, Daman and Diu and the President issued Regulation 12/1962 applying several Central Acts and some State Acts to Goa, Daman, and Diu, this Act is not one of them, the position was the same in regard to Dadra and Nagar Haveli. However, the act has been extended to Pondicherry by Pondicherry (Extension of Laws) Act, 26/68 with the addition of Section 2-A which proves that the Act does not apply to ‘Renoncants’ of Pondicherry. However, the act has now been extended to the Union Territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Pondicherry by Registration 6 of 1963 (w.e.f. 1.7.65) and Act 26 of 1968 (w.e.f. 24.5.68).
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