Gift Deed In Favour Of Live-In Partner : Supreme Court Says Courts Should Not Pass 'Value Judgment' On Relationship Between Donor & Donee If There Is Valid Execution

The Supreme Court has held that while determining the validity of a gift deed, Courts should not pass "value judgment" on the relationship between the donor and the donee, and the only thing which matters is if the deed was validly executed.The Court was dealing with a challenge to a deed executed by a man in favour of a woman who was his live-in partner(Case : Mohinder Singh (D) The. Lrs. And Ors. v. Mal Singh (D) Through. Lrs)The Supreme Court opined that while determining testamentary or non-testamentary dispositions, the Courts should not pass value judgment on relationships between the transferor and the transferee as long as the document is validly executed. "Thus, we would in the end say that it is time that Courts get out of this mindset …to pass value judgment on relationships in determining either testamentary or non-testamentary disposition so long as the document executed is found to be validly so done."A Bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and M.M. Sundresh deprecated the approach of the trial court and the First Appellate Court, which while determining whether the gift deed was invalid had gone into the nature of relationship between the donor and the donee. The said Courts had found that execution of the gift deed was "illegal and immoral" as the donee was a woman the donor was living with and not his wife. "Some kind of male chauvinistic approach appears to have coloured the judgments passed by the Trial Court and the First Appellate Court which is of course the reflection of the mindset of the appellants before us. We thus dismiss the appeal with cost and bring half a decade of litigation to an end", the bench observed.At the outset Senior Advocates, Mr. Dhruv Mehta and Mr. Manoj Swarup appearing on behalf of the appellants, put forth in brief the factual conspectus of the case. A suit was filed by the appellants (now deceased and represented through legal representatives) on 19.10.1971 for declaration to the effect that a gift deed executed by their brother, Gian Singh in favour of one Pritam Kaur in respect to concerned properties is null and void and is not binding on the rights of the appellants as reversioners. The appellants had pleaded that Gian Singh was issueless and without a wife. It was asserted that the appellants were the nearest legal heirs of Gian Singh. It was contended that being governed by General Customary Law of Punjab in the matters of alienation, inheritance and adoption, Gian Singh could not have executed the gift deed in favour of one Pritam Kaur, daughter of Gurbax Singh who was not related to Gian Singh in any manner whatsoever. On 29.11.1971, Gian Singh and Pritam Kaur filed a joint written statement defending the execution of the gift deed. It was also highlighted that the two had been married for 35 years. Thereafter, on 24.01.1972, Gian Singh passed away. In view of the same, the appellants sought to amend the plaint seeking a decree of possession and declaration of ownership of the concerned property. By order dated 03.11.1973 the trial court dismissed the suit stating that the proceeding would be governed by the Punjab Customs (Power to Contest) Amendment Act, 1971 which precluded passing a decree declaring alienation of ancestral property to be invalid. The appeal was dismissed by the Additional District Judge, Patiala. In the regular second appeal, the Punjab and Haryana High Court affirmed the judgment of the Court below. The matter came up to the Apex Court, which remanded it back to the High Court to be decided in accordance with Hindu law. The Single Judge of the High Court remitted the matter back to the Trial Court vide order dated 27.04.1995 to decide the matter afresh. In the meantime, even Pritam Kaur had passed away on 18.06.1992. During her lifetime she had executed a will in favour of her nephew, Mal Singh (deceased-respondent represented through legal heir). It was brought to the notice of the trial court by Mal Singh that Pritam Kaur had sold some of the suit properties to different persons. In a replication dated 21.11.1995 filed by him it was averred that Pritam Kaur, daughter of Inder Singh was the wife of Gyan Singh and she had died on 02.02.1968 and he along with some other were the legal heirs of the said Pritam Kaur. The trial court vide order dated 26.08.1998 passed a decree of declaration and possession to the effect that the appellants are the owners of suit property being the brothers of Gian Singh. It was further declared that they had reversionary right in suit properties because Gian Singh died issueless and his wife had predeceased him. The First Appellate Court affirmed the order of the trial court. In appeal that High Court set aside the order of the courts below on the ground that the only issue that had to be decided by the trial court pursuant to the remission order passed by the Supreme Court, was the impact of Hindu Law with...

Gift Deed In Favour Of Live-In Partner : Supreme Court Says Courts Should Not Pass 'Value Judgment' On Relationship Between Donor & Donee If There Is Valid Execution

Sohini Chowdhury

"If the donor is making a gift out of his own free will and volition and is the exclusive owner of the property, it is nobody's concern as to who he gives the property to."

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