Transfer of Property Act 1882 – s.53A – Protection of s.53A is available subject to certain prerequisites – s.53A is an exception to the provisions which require a contract to be in writing and registered and which bar proof of such contract by any other evidence – Exception must be strictly construed – High Court committed no error in impugned judgment and order – SLP dismissed:
Held: Respondents (original plaintiffs) filed a suit for declaration of title and recovery of possession – Petitioners (original defendants) contended that the Respondents executed a sale agreement dated 25-11-1968 in their favour and since then the Petitioners came to be in possession of the land – Trial Court decreed the suit in favour of the Respondents – Regular First Appeal filed by Petitioners dismissed – High Court in impugned judgment and order dismissed Second Appeal, observing that the protection under Section 53A of the Transfer of Property Act 1882 (“TP Act”) does not arise as defendant has failed to prove that plaintiff has executed the Sale Agreement – No error committed by High Court in impugned judgment and order – SLP dismissed. [Paras 8, 9, 15]
Protection under Section 53A-Prerequisites of: Held: 1. Protection under Section 53A is available subject to prerequisites: (a) there is a contract in writing by the transferor for transfer for consideration of any immovable property signed by him or on his behalf, from which the terms necessary to constitute the transfer can be ascertained with reasonable certainty;
(b) The transferee has, in part-performance of the contract, taken possession of the property or any part thereof, or the transferee, being already in possession, continues in possession in part performance of the contract; (c) The transferee has done some act in furtherance of the contract and has performed or is willing to perform his part of the contract. [Para 11]
2. Effect of Section 53A is to relax the strict provisions of the TP Act and the Registration Act in favour of transferees and to allow the defence of part performance to be established – It is an exception to the provisions which require a contract to be in writing and registered and which bar proof of such contract by any other evidence – The exception must be strictly construed.[Paras 13, 14]
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Headnotes prepared by: Adeeba Mujahid, Hony. Associate Editor (Verified by: Shibani Ghosh, Adv.). Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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