The Karta in HUF has the following rights or powers:
- Power of Management: A Karta is the sole manager of the property under a HUF. So, he or she gets the right to manage every property-related matter, authority transfer, disposal, acquisition, and investment process.
- Representing Power: In every sphere, be it social, legal, or religious, Karta will be the representative. Karta can take any transactional decision as a representative of his or her family.
- Power of Utilising HUF Income: Every member of a family is obliged to hand over their income to Karta and Karta has complete right to utilise that fund as per several expenditures.
- Power of Decision Making: A Karta can make decisions on every matter of HUF. Though there is relevance to the opinions of coparceners, Karta’s decision is supreme.
- Power of Compromising: The Karta of a HUF has the right to compromise several familial disputes and management issues, debt, transactions, etc. However, other members are allowed to go to the court to challenge the decision.
- Power of Initiating Contracts: Karta can start any contract and the whole family has to adhere. The contract applies to every family member of a joint family.
- Power to request arbitration for a dispute: Karta has the authority to refer cases involving family assets and administration to arbitration. If the arbitration's decision is upheld, the joint family's members must abide by it.
- Power to Alienate: As per HUF regulations, Karta can manage the assets of HUF and every member must abide by his or her decision. If any coparcener disagrees with this, he or she can only ask for partition. However, a Karta can ask for alienation which no other member can do.
Karta can alienate joint family assets and properties under the following circumstances:
- Legal necessities and emergencies
- The sole benefit of the family or estate
- Indispensible duties
There is no legal dispute regarding this alienation power. However, if he alienates property without providing these justifications, his judgment would be illegitimate, and he might face legal action.