The Madras HC has recently upheld the cancellation of the gift deed on the ground that possession was not handed over & the deed was not acted upon. The HC uphold the decree of trial court & agreed with the findings of the court dismissing a suit for seeking cancellation of gift deed.
Facts
That the appellant is the plaintiff in the original suit. The 4th defendant is her mother & Defendants 1-3 are her sisters. The suit properties & other properties belong to 4th Defendant. The 4th Defendant then gifted the suit property via gift deed in favour of the Plaintiff & the Defendants 1-3 and since then they became the absolute owners & have been in possession of the same. The Plaintiff & the Defendant 1 -3 had sold 0.37 cents of land out of the total 2.37, by a sale seed & paid the amount to the 4th Defendant. The 4th Defendant was also an attestor in the same sale deed. Subsequently, the 4th Defendant has executed a deed for cancellation of the gift deed. The trial court dismissed the suit of petitioner stating that Plaintiff is not entitled to any relief whatsoever against the 4th Defendant.
Hence, This Appeal Suit has been filed, under Order 41 Rule 1 read with Section 96 of CPC, against the judgment and decree of trial court.
Contention Made
Plaintiff: The Plaintiff's contention is that having executed the gift deed in their favour and when the possession was also handed over on the same day and the gift deed is an unconditional and irrevocable one, the 4th Defendant cannot cancel the gift deed unilaterally without giving notice and it is illegal and unsustainable in law. The counsel referred to D. Mohan & anr vs Sub registrar Chennai & ors (2012); where sub-registrars have been directed not to cancel any document without the consent of the parties. The plaintiff also sought for a permanent injunction against the 4th defendant & for the equal partition of the suit property into 4 equal shares.
Defendant: That the plaintiff & the defendant 1-3 had never obtained the possession through the gift deed. That, the plaintiff’s action was adverse to the interest of the defendant 1-3.
The cancellation deed was executed with the consent & concurrence of the Plaintiff & Defendants 1-3.Hence, Cancellation of the gift deed is valid and the gift deed is not acted upon.
Court Observation
The bench placed an reliance upon Renikuntla Rajamma Vs. K.Sarwanamma (2014 9 SCC 445) & observed that: “ What is retained in the gift deed is only the right to use the property during the life time of the donor which does not in any way affect the transfer of ownership in favour of the donee by the donor.”
Judgment
The bench upholds the order of trial court & held that no interference is warranted. When the possession was not handed over and the gift deed was not acted upon hence, it was not a valid gift deed.
Subsequently appeal was dismissed by Madras HC.
Case: S. Manjula vs G. Shoba and others
Citation: A.S 327 of 2015
Bench: Justice A.A.Nakkiran
Decided on: 14th June, 22.
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