Response

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Section 122 in The Transfer of Property Act, 1882, which says, “Gift is the transfer of certain existing moveable or immoveable property made voluntarily and without consideration, by one person, called the donor, to another, called the donee, and accepted by or on behalf of the donee. Acceptance when to be made.ÑSuch acceptance must be made during the lifetime of the donor and while he is still capable of giving. If the donee dies before acceptance, the gift is void.”

A gift deed is not mandatory to register as per section 18 of the Registration Act, 1908, which says, “Documents of which registration is optional.ÑAny of the following documents may be registered under this Act, namely:Ñ
(a) instruments (other than instruments of gift and wills) which purport or operate to create, declare, assign, limit or extinguish, whether in present or in future, any right, title or interest, whether vested or contingent, of a value less then one hundred rupees, to or in immovable property;
(b) instruments acknowledging the receipt or payment of any consideration on account of the creation, declaration, assignment, limitation or extinction of any such right, title or interest;
(c) leases of immovable property for any term not exceeding one year, and leases exempted under section 17.”

As in case of a sale, there must be a transfer of all the rights in the property by the donor to the done. It may, however, be noted that it is permissible to make conditional gifts. The only restriction is that the condition must not be repugnant to nay of the provisions of Section 10 to 34 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882.

Section 126 of Transfer of Property Act, 1882 deals with when gift may be suspended or revoked. According to it, the donor and donee may agree that on the happening of any specified event which does not depend on the will of the donor a gift shall be suspended or revoked but a gift which the parties agree shall be revocable wholly or in part, at the mere will of the donor is void wholly or in part as the case may be. A gift may also be revoked in any of the cases in which if it were a contract it might be rescinded. Such as aforesaid a gift cannot be revoked. Nothing contained in this section shall be deemed to affect the rights of transferees for consideration without notice.

Technically, he cannot make any claim on a property transferred by a gift deed.

Reference:

20210023202100242555

LAWAYZ-2023-524