A landlord dies without wring a will leaving behind 100 acres of land. H e has no legal heirs. One lady, said to a concubine claims the whole of the property. What will happen to his property/

1. Whether the concubine's claim to whole property is valid? NO

2. Whether property of the intestate will devolve on Govt.? YES

Section 29 of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956

This problem is related to the Concubines' right to property after the death of the landlord. In the absence of lineal descendants and kindred to the deceased, the property shall go to the Government. Section 29 of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 provides that if an intestate has left no heir qualified to succeed to his or her property in accordance with the provisions of this Act, such property shall devolve on the Government; and the Government shall take the property subject to all the obligations and liabilities to which an heir would have been subject.

A concubine cannot maintain a relationship in the nature of marriage because such a relationship will not have exclusivity and will not be monogamous in character. A concubine is known in Hindu Law as Avarudha stree, which means lesser wife. Though she is not treated as a prostitute, but it is indicative of a woman attached to or keeping of a man either on amorous or for other reason and who is not bound by bounds of marriage. As there is no marriage and the concubine does not enjoy the status of a wife.

Akku Prahlad Vs. Ganesh Prahlad, ILR 1945 Bom. 216, wherein it has been held that a married woman who left her husband and lived with paramour as his permanently kept mistress could claim the status of an Avaruddha stree by remaining faithful to her paramour, though the connection was adulterous, and was entitled to maintenance, but not right to property of the paramour so long as she preserved her sexual fidelity to him

Conclusion:

In the instant problem, the concubine's claim to whole property is not valid. The property of the intestate will devolve on Government as per Section 29 of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956. Hence in the absence of lineal descendants and kindred to the deceased, the property shall go to the Government.