Hindu Women cannot act as Karta of the HUF after the death of her husband but can be considered as Manager.

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CIVIL APPEAL NOS.3162-3163 OF 2010SHREYA VIDYARTHI VS ASHOK VIDYARTHI & ORS Decided on Dec, 2015

The court said “While there can be no doubt that a Hindu Widow is not a coparcener in the HUF of her husband and, therefore, cannot act as Karta of the HUF after the death of her husband the two expressions i.e. Karta and Manager may be understood to be not synonymous and the expression “Manager” may be understood as denoting a role distinct from that of the Karta from that of the Karta.  Hypothetically, we may take the case of HUF where the male adult coparcener has died and there is no male coparcener surviving or as in the facts of the present case, where the sole male coparcener (plaintiff – Ashok Vidyarthi) is a minor. In such a situation obviously the HUF does not come to an end. The mother of the male coparcener can act as the legal guardian of the minor and also look after his role as the Karta in her capacity as his (minor’s) legal guardian.”