Hindu Gains of Learning Act, 1930

This 1930 Act clarifies that property a member of a Hindu undivided family acquires through their own education or training belongs exclusively to them, even if the family helped pay for that education or supported them while they studied.

Section 2 defines "acquirer" as a family member who gains property through learning, "gains of learning" as any property acquired substantially by means of learning (whether an ordinary or extraordinary result of it, and whether acquired before or after the Act), and "learning" broadly as any education or training -- elementary, technical, scientific, special, or general -- usually meant to prepare someone for a trade, industry, profession, or vocation.

Section 3 is the operative rule: despite any custom, rule, or interpretation of Hindu law, gains of learning cannot be treated as anything other than the acquirer's exclusive and separate property merely because their education was funded, in whole or part, by a family member or the family's joint funds, or because they (or their family) were supported by joint family funds while they were studying.

Section 4 preserves prior transactions: the Act does not affect property transfers made before it came into force, anything already validly done before commencement, rights or liabilities created under a pre-existing partition or partition agreement of joint family property, or any related remedy or proceeding, including cases already pending in court.

This is an old statute (1930) governing a specific point of Hindu joint-family property law -- essentially protecting a professional's earnings from being claimed as joint family property just because the family funded their education.