The judgment established that a settlement deed creating vested interest cannot be unilaterally cancelled without proper justification, and the settlor should seek remedy in a competent Civil Court.

JUDGMENT

(Prayer: Writ Petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, praying for the issuance of a Writ of Certiorari, to call for the records of the document dated 31.12.2013 and registered as Doc.No.5149 of 2013, on the file of the first respondent and to quash the same.)

1. This Writ Petition has been filed challenging the registration of the revocation of settlement deed dated 31.12.2013 as Document No.5149 of 2013, by the 1st respondent.

2. The case of the petitioners is that Mrs.Ishwari Bai, who is the mother of the 1st and 2nd petitioners and the grandmother of the 3rd petitioner executed a settlement deed dated 01.10.2009 in favour of the petitioners and it was presented for registration before the 1st respondent and registered as Document No.3479 of 2009. The further case of the petitioners is that the subject property that was settled in favour of the petitioners vested in them absolutely.

3. It is stated that Iswari Bai passed away at the age of 88, on 03.03.2015. All of a sudden, the 3rd respondent who is the brother of the 1st and 2nd petitioners started claiming absolute right over the subject property on the basis of a settlement deed dated 31.12.2013. When the petitioners enquired about the same, it came to their knowledge that the said Ishwari Bai had unilaterally cancelled the settlement deed dated 01.10.2009 through the revocation deed dated 31.12.2013. Aggrieved by the registration of the revocation deed by the 1st respondent, whereby the settlement deed executed in favour of the petitioners was unilaterally cancelled, the present Writ Petition has been filed questioning the same.

4. The 3rd respondent has filed a counter affidavit and he has taken a stand to the effect that the settlement deed dated 01.10.2009 was brought about by the petitioners by perpetrating fraud, coercion and undue influence on the mother. The further stand taken by the 3rd respondent is that the property in question never vested with the petitioners absolutely since the settlor had retained life interest over the property and she never handed over possession to the petitioners and the petitioners were not even given the power of alienation. It is further stated that the mother, immediately on coming to know of the fraudulent document, cancelled the same through a deed of revocation dated 31.12.2013 and on the same day, an irrevocable settlement deed was executed in favour of the 3rd respondent and the 3rd respondent became the absolute owner of the property. Thereafter, the 3rd respondent also dealt with the property by executing a mortgage on 02.01.2014 for securing the loan taken by him for his business purposes. The mother passed away on 3.03.2015 and taking advantage of the same, the present Writ Petition came to be filed subsequently. Hence, the 3rd respondent has questioned the very maintainability of this Writ Petition and sought for the dismissal of the Writ Petition.

5. The above Writ Petition came up for hearing on 17.8.2022 and this Court passed the following order:

This Court heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Senior Counsel appearing on behalf of the 3rd respondent.

2. The learned counsel for the petitioner by relying upon the latest judgment of the Hon'ble First Bench in W.A.No.984 of 2022, dated 24.06.2022, submitted that the Sub Registrar does not have the power or the authority even to entertain a document which seeks to unilaterally cancel an earlier document. Therefore, according to the learned counsel for the petitioner, there is no requirement to go into disputed facts and the writ petition has to be allowed on this ground alone. The learned counsel also brought to the notice of this Court the Judgment of the learned Single Judge in W.P.No.17232 of 2021, dated 27.07.2022, wherein, the Division Bench Judgment has been relied upon and it was held that the presence of the Settlor and Settlee while canceling the Settlement Deed is mandatory and in the absence of the same, the uni