Section 6 - Requisites of a Valid Adoption
Section 6 lays down the essential legal requirements that must all be satisfied for an adoption under the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 to be valid.
- The adopter must have legal capacity and the right to adopt.
- The person giving the child in adoption must have legal capacity to do so.
- The person being adopted must be legally capable of being adopted.
- All other conditions in Chapter II of the Act must be fulfilled.
Text of Section 6
No adoption shall be valid unless -
- the person adopting has the capacity, and also the right, to take in adoption;
- the person giving in adoption has the capacity to do so;
- the person adopted is capable of being taken in adoption; and
- the adoption is made in compliance with the other conditions mentioned in this Chapter.
Meaning and Scope of Section 6
Section 6 is the central checklist for determining whether an adoption governed by Chapter II of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 is legally valid. Its four requirements are cumulative. An adoption must satisfy each requirement, together with the detailed rules contained in the connected provisions of Chapter II.
1. Capacity and right of the person adopting
The first requirement concerns the person who takes a child in adoption. The adopter must have both the legal capacity and the legal right to adopt. The detailed rules are contained principally in Section 7, dealing with the capacity of a male Hindu, and Section 8, dealing with the capacity of a female Hindu.
2. Capacity of the person giving in adoption
The second requirement is that the person who gives the child in adoption must be legally authorised and capable of doing so. Section 9 specifies the persons who may lawfully give a child in adoption and the circumstances governing that authority.
3. Person capable of being adopted
The third requirement concerns the eligibility of the person who is proposed to be adopted. Section 10 states the conditions governing who may be adopted under the Act.
4. Compliance with the other conditions in Chapter II
The fourth requirement makes compliance with the remaining statutory conditions essential. In particular, Section 11 contains other conditions for a valid adoption. Section 6 therefore cannot be read in isolation; validity depends on compliance with the connected provisions governing the adopter, the person giving in adoption, the person adopted and the manner and conditions of adoption.
Why Section 6 Matters
Section 5 provides that an adoption by or to a Hindu after commencement of the Act must conform to Chapter II and that an adoption made in contravention of that Chapter is void. Section 6 then identifies the four foundational requisites of validity. Together, these provisions make statutory compliance central to a valid adoption under the Act.
Statutory source checked against India Code, Ministry of Law and Justice. Page reviewed: 27 September 2026.