Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007:s. 23 – Transfer of property to be void in certain circumstances – Applicability of s. 23(1) – When – Held: Effecting transfer subject to a condition of providing the basic amenities and basic physical needs to the transferor-senior citizen is sine qua non for applicability of sub-section (1) of s. 23 – When transferee refuses or fails to provide such amenities and physical needs to the transferor, the transfer shall be deemed to have been made by fraud or coercion or undue influence, and becomes voidable at the instance of the transferor and the Maintenance Tribunal – Very often, senior citizen executes a gift or a release or otherwise in favour of his or her near and dear ones, out of love and affection without any expectation in return, a condition of looking after the senior citizen is not necessarily attached to it – Thus, when it is alleged that the conditions mentioned in s. 23(1) are attached to a transfer, existence of such conditions must be established before the tribunal – Perusal of the petition u/s. 23 filed by respondent no.1-senior citizen shows that it was not even pleaded by respondent no.1 that the release deed was executed subject to a condition that the transferees-daughters of senior citizen would provide the basic amenities and basic physical needs to the senior citizen – No such finding was recorded by the tribunal – It was merely pleaded that the daughter had no intention to take care of her mother – Thus, the order of the tribunal and the High Court cannot be sustained and, set aside.
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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