The Madras High Court has recently held that a wife has an equal right to property bought by her husband with the money he earns. The court has said that even though there is no law for this, the court can recognize the contribution of the wife and can say that the acquisition of property is the result of joint contribution of husband and wife. And it can also ensure that women are rewarded for their sacrifice and contribution. The court has said that the husband is dependent on his wife to take care of the family, if the wife does not cooperate with the husband in the responsibility of the family, then the husband cannot earn money. Therefore, the property may be purchased in the name of either the husband or the wife, yet it should be deemed to have been purchased out of the money saved by the joint efforts of both the husband and the wife. The court further said that the acquisition of property is done by the direct and indirect contribution of both the husband and the wife, the husband earning money by going out of the house and the wife doing domestic work by staying at home, takes care of the household and family members, thus indirectly helping the husband in earning money. The wife has the same right on the property bought with this money as the husband, in case of partition, the wife will be the sharer of half of the total property. Court's observation was that a Grihani does household chores 24 hours a day without taking any leave, fulfills the basic needs of the family members, takes care of the children and does so for several decades. After marriage, many wives even leave their jobs so that they can fulfill the responsibility of the family properly and help the husband in earning money, which results in them having nothing to say in the end. The court has made the above observation in a case in which a woman had claimed right on half of her husband's property. According to the case, a woman named Kansala Amal had filed a claim in the court demanding an equal share in her husband's properties. This claim of Kansala Amal was rejected by the lower court in 2015 after which she filed an appeal in the High Court. The Court of Justice Krishnan Ramaswamy has held that the properties were purchased by the husband from his own savings but there was indirect contribution of the wife in earning the money hence the wife is a 50% shareholder.
