Amendment in guardian and wards Act and Hindu Adoption and maintenance Act 2010

THE PERSONAL LAWS (AMENDMENT) ACT, 2010 

NO. 30 OF 2010 

[31st August, 2010.] 

An Act further to amend the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890 and the 

Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956. 

BE it enacted by Parliament in the Sixty-first Year of the Republic of India as 

follows:— 

CHAPTER I 

PRELIMINARY 

1. Short title. - This Act may be called the Personal Laws (Amendment) Act, 2010. 

CHAPTER II 

AMENDMENT TO THE GUARDIANS AND WARDS ACT, 1890 

2. Amendment of section 19 of Act 8 of 1890. - In section 19 of the Guardians and 

Wards Act, 1890, for clause (b), the following clause shall be substituted, namely:— 

"(b) of a minor, other than a married female, whose father or mother is living 

and is not, in the opinion of the court, unfit to be guardian of the person of the 

minor, or". 

CHAPTER III 

AMENDMENTS TO THE HINDU ADOPTIONS AND MAINTENANCE ACT, 1956 

3. Substitution of new section for section 8. - In the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance 

Act, 1956 (hereafter in this Chapter referred to as the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance 

Act), for section 8, the following section shall be substituted, namely:— 

"8. Capacity of a female Hindu to take in adoption. - Any female Hindu who is of 

sound mind and is not a minor has the capacity to take a son or daughter in adoption: 

Provided that, if she has a husband living, she shall not adopt a son or daughter 

except with the consent of her husband unless the husband has completely and 

finally renounced the world or has ceased to be a Hindu or has been declared by a 

court of competent jurisdiction to be of unsound mind.". 

4. Amendment of section 9. - In the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, in section 9, 

— 

(i) for sub-section (2), the following sub-section shall be substituted, namely: 

— 

"(2) Subject to the provisions of sub-section (4), the father or the mother, 

if alive, shall have equal right to give a son or daughter in adoption: 

Provided that such right shall not be exercised by either of them save with 

the consent of the other unless one of them has completely and finally 

renounced the world or has ceased to be a Hindu or has been declared by a 

court of competent jurisdiction to be of unsound mind."; 

(ii) sub-section (3) shall be omitted. 

V.K. BHASIN, 

Secy. to the Govt. of India.