A junior male member of a Hindu undivided family may be its 'Karta'

The senior-most male member of a Hindu undivided family is ordinarily its Karta, and a junior member can become Karta "Only with the consent of the other coparceners of the family", as the Supreme Court recognised in Narendrakumar J Modi v CIT (1976). Ability or intelligence alone gives a junior member no right to displace the senior member, and the mother has no power to appoint him by her order.