Supreme Court has given an important decision: Parents can cancel the property gifted to children

If the elderly parents are not taken care of and neglected, the parents can cancel the gift deed of the property gifted to the children and evict them from the property. In a similar case, the Supreme Court has canceled the gift deed of the property gifted to the son on the petition of the mother.

The Supreme Court has canceled the gift deed and ordered to give possession of the property to the mother by 28 February. The apex court said that the Senior Citizens Act 2007 is a beneficial law and the tribunals established in this law can order eviction if necessary for the protection of senior citizens.

In a judgment given on January 2, a bench of Justices CT Ravikumar and Sanjay Karol, while interpreting Section 23 of the Senior Citizens Act, said that the relief available to the senior citizen under this section is related to the purpose and reason of the law. Said that in some cases the elderly of our country are not taken care of. In such a situation, this thing is directly related to the purpose of the law.

The bench said that if senior citizens transfer property on the condition of care, then this law gives them the power to protect their rights. In this case of Madhya Pradesh, the mother had filed a petition accusing the son of not taking care and neglect and sought cancellation of the gift deed of the property gifted to her.

The mother had challenged the decision of the division bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court dated 31 October 2022 in the Supreme Court. In its order, the division bench had cancelled the order of the single bench of the High Court, the Collector of Chhatarpur and the Sub Divisional Magistrate and Chairman, in which the order was given under the Senior Citizen Act and the gift deed made in favour of the son was cancelled for not taking care of the parents.

The mother stated that she had gifted the property to the son with the condition that he should look after them but he did not look after them instead, he attacked them. So, the gift deed is to be cancelled and the property is to be returned to her. She said that along with the gift deed, a pledge was also taken from the son that he would take care of them. Sub Divisional Magistrate of Chhatarpur accepted the plea of the mother and declared the gift deed void.

Thereafter, the son's appeals were dismissed by the higher authority and the single bench of the High Court, but the division bench of the High Court set aside the order of the lower authority and the single bench and passed an order in favor of the son by stating that there was no condition of taking care in the gift deed. The division bench had not accepted the undertaking, but the Supreme Court, citing the interpretation of the objects and provisions of the Senior Citizens Act in several earlier decisions, set aside the order of the High Court division bench, holding it erroneous.