A Hindu Undivided Family holds its property, and often a business, in common. Its manager is the Karta. Traditionally the Karta is the senior-most male member. The Supreme Court has held that “the senior most member in a HUF would be a karta.”
In Sujata Sharma v. Manu Gupta, decided in December 2015, the Delhi High Court ruled that a woman can hold the role. “If a male member of an HUF, by virtue of his being the first born eldest, can be a Karta, so can a female member.”
The case concerned the eldest female coparcener of the family.