Karta of Joint Hindu Family is

The karta of a Hindu joint family is ordinarily the father or, in his absence, the senior-most male member, because under classical Mitakshara law only a coparcener could be karta. A mother, grandmother or great-grandmother is a member of the family but was not a coparcener, and so could not be karta.

Since the 2005 amendment of section 6 a daughter is a coparcener, and the Delhi High Court in Sujata Sharma v. Manu Gupta (2016) held that the eldest coparcener may be karta even if a woman.