The Supreme Court bench of
Justices S B Sinha and H S Bedi, ruled that gifts from parents to children
could not be rescinded later had said two months ago that parents could
disentitle their son from inheritance if he neglected them. Ashokan from Kerala
was gifted land by his mother through a registered gift deed out of “love and
affection” on January 4, 1984. His father followed suit saying it would help
him lead a good family life. But after one-and-a-half years, the parents
cancelled the deeds saying Ashokan had failed to render financial assistance to
the family though he worked in Oman. They were also upset he did not fulfil his
promise to contribute Rs 1 lakh for his sister’s marriage.
Ashokan approached the
trial court seeking quashing of the two documents executed by his parents
through which the gift was cancelled. Despite the breach of promise cited by
the parents, the court ruled that once the gift deed had been executed, it
could not be revoked “by the mere fact that the donor’s feeling towards the
recipient underwent a change”.
The parents had protested
that if the deeds were kept alive, it would be fair to fear that the son would
evict them from their own land. The district
court ruled in favour of the parents saying the son had not taken possession of
the land, nor paid tax, nor mutated it in his name. The Kerala HC upheld this
decision.
Ashokan approached the SC
challenging the HC’s decision. The SC said the gift deeds were executed out of
love and on the ground that the recipient was the son of the donor and to
enable him to live a good life.
“Could the parents now turn around and say he
was to fulfil a promise? The answer must be in the negative. It’s one thing to
say the execution of the deed is based on an aspiration or belief, but another
to say the same constituted an onerous gift,” said the bench. The SC revived
the gift deeds originally made by the parents and said, “Once a gift is
complete, it cannot be rescinded.”
