MARA AND OTHERS vs NIKKO AND OTHERS

The Supreme Court held that in cases involving inheritance among the Jhalli Jats of Ludhiana, properties that are mixed ancestral and non-ancestral must be treated as non-ancestral unless clearly identified. The Court applied the principle that land ceases to be ancestral if acquired otherwise than by descent, referencing Avtar Singh v. Thakar Singh, 35 I.A. 206. It was determined that the lower courts correctly applied personal law, rejecting the overly broad exclusion of sisters from inheritance of non-ancestral property as stated in Rattingan’s Digest.