Hindu can be a manager of a joint family, denoting a role distinct from that of the Karta

As per the Hindu Succession ( amendment ) Act 2005, that Female Member of joint Hindu family, having acquired the status of a coparcener from her paternal ancestors as the status of HUF property even after her marriage and thus she can therefore, form HUF from the ancestral property with her children being coparceners of this HUF. 

Coparcener is a person who enjoys interest in the family property by birth. The coparcener enjoys right to enforce partition.

Thus the position is clear in case of daughters.

A widow cannot be a Karta in HUF as she is not coparcener.

If the widow enjoys right in the property, at the most she can form a trust and appoint trustee of the property. Only rights for regulation of the trust should be given to the trustee by way of duly registered trust deed. The trustee shall take care of the child until she is 18 years old or even after that.

Still since wife, as she is not coparcener, a widow cannot be a Karta in HUF

The Supreme Court of India has ruled that a widow can be a manager of a joint family in some particular circumstances.

A bench comprising justices Ranjan Gogoi and N V Ramana said, “Such a role (as manager) necessarily has to be distinguished from that of a Karta which position the Hindu widow cannot assume by virtue of her dis-entitlement to be a coparcener in the Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) of her husband. Regrettably, the position remains unaltered even after the amendment of the Hindu Succession Act in 2005.”

“Though women could not be treated as Karta of a joint family, she can be a manager of a joint family, in some particular circumstances,” it said. The bench also held that the expression ‘Manager’ can be understood as denoting a role distinct from that of the Karta.

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

CIVIL APPEAL NOS.3162-3163 OF 2010

SHREYA VIDYARTHI VERSUS ASHOK VIDYARTHI & ORS.

http://judis.nic.in/supremecourt/imgs1.aspx?filename=43191