The main legal point established in the judgment is the validity of gift deeds made to the Government by its citizens and the obligation of the respondents to acquire the land or pay compensation for the deprivation of the petitioners' property.

JUDGMENT :

Sindhu Sharma, J.

1. In all these three petitions, the propriety land of the petitioners was taken by the respondents without payment of compensation, as such, they are taken up together for consideration. The contention of the petitioners in all the three petitions is that their land was taken by the respondents for setting up Tube Well and other public utilities on the assurance of employment to one of their family member without payment of compensation.

2. While considering these petitions, this Court, vide order dated 17.05.2022 observed that important questions arise for consideration, firstly, whether the land donated by the petitioners by execution of a gift deed in favour of Government or Government functionaries can be said to be a valid legal document, considering the constitutional provisions, and whether the Government would at all accept a gift deed in its name by its citizens. Secondly, whether the gift deed made in favour of the Government could be held to be a valid, inasmuch as, a gift deed is to be inter vivos to be a valid gift deed.

3. Mr. A.P. Singh, Advocate, was also appointed as amicus curiae to assist the Court in these matters vide the aforesaid order.

4. Chapter-VII of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882 defines gift in Section 122 as under:

“122. "Gift" defined-"Gift" is the transfer of certain existing moveable or immoveable property made voluntarily and without consideration, by one person, called the donor, to another, called the donee, and accepted by or on behalf of the donee. Acceptance when to be made - Such acceptance must be made during the lifetime of the donor and while he is still capable of giving, if the donee dies before acceptance, the gift is void.

123. Transfer how effected -For the purpose of making a gift of immoveable property, the transfer must be effected by a registered instrument signed by or on behalf of the donor, and attested by at least two witnesses. For the purpose of making a gift of moveable property, the transfer may be affected either by a registered instrument signed as aforesaid or by delivery.”

5. The essentials of a gift, thus, would be; (i) There must be a donor and a donee, (ii) The subject matter of a gift must be a certain existing property, (iii) The gift must be voluntary and without consideration, (iv) There must be a transfer on the part of donor, (v) There must be an acceptance by or on behalf of the donee and such acceptance must be made during the lifetime of the donor and while he is still capable of giving, (vi) In case of an immovable property, the transfer must be affected by a registered instrument signed by or on behalf of the donor and attested by at least two witnesses and (vii) For the purpose of making gift of a movable property, the transfer must be affected by a registered instrument or by delivery.

6. The first contention is whether the gift made in favour of Government could be held to be valid, inasmuch as, a gift deed is to be inter vivos to be a valid gift deed.

7. A gift is a transfer of property without any consideration or compensation of movable or immovable property, when the transfer takes place between two living persons, it is called inter vivos, though, when the transfer takes place after the death of the transferor, it is known as testamentary. Testamentary transfers do not fall within the scope of Section 5 of Transfer of Property Act, 1882, and thus, only inter vivos are treated as gifts under the provisions of this Act. If the essential elements required for a transfer to be treated as a gift are not implemented properly, it could be revoked or become void by law.

8. Mr. A.P. Singh, learned Advocate, has drawn our attention to Section 5 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882, and relied upon the same to submit that the transfer of a property can be made in favour of the Government in terms of the said Section. The tra