A gift deed cannot be cancelled under Section 23(1) of the Tamil Nadu Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 if it lacks explicit conditions regarding the provision of basic amenities.

JUDGMENT :

(M.S. RAMESH, J.)

The appellant herein, who is the grandfather of the 1^st respondent herein, had executed a gift deed in his favour, registered as Document No.825/2020 on the file of the Sub-Registrar, Sayalkudi, of a property comprised in Survey Nos.202/5 and 202/13B at Sayalkudi, Kadaladi Taluk, Ramanathapuram District. In the recitals to the document, it is stated that in consideration of the love and affection towards his grandson and since he had been fulfilling all the duties and taking care of his grandfather, the gift deed is executed. However, the appellant herein had made an application before the 2^nd respondent under Section 23(1) of the Tamil Nadu Maintenance and Welfare of the Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act'), seeking for cancellation of the gift deed, predominantly on the ground that his son R.Veemarajan/father of the 1^st respondent had failed to provide the basic amenities and physical needs to him. Through an order dated 10.05.2022, the 3^rd respondent had cancelled the gift deed dated 07.09.2020. When the 1^st respondent had challenged the cancellation order before the 2^nd respondent by way of an appeal, the same was rejected on the ground that, as per Section 16(1) of the Act, a senior citizen alone could file an appeal against the cancellation order. Under these circumstances, the 1^st respondent had challenged the cancellation order dated 10.05.2022 before the Writ Court in W.P.(MD) No.16588 of 2022. The learned Single Judge, through an order dated 08.08.2024, had found that there are no recitals in the gift deed that the transferee should provide the basic amenities and basic physical needs to the transferor and in the absence of such a condition, the gift deed cannot be questioned under the Act. The order of the learned Single Judge is put under challenge in this intra- Court appeal.

2. The learned counsel for the appellant placed reliance on a judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Sudesh Chhikara Vs. Ramti Devi and Another reported in 2022 SCC OnLine SC 1684 and submitted that in view of the dictum laid down in this case, the gift deed, which does not incorporate the pre-condition that the transferee shall provide the basic amenities and basic physical needs, cannot be ordered to be cancelled under Section 23(1) of the Act.

3. Per contra, the learned counsel appearing for the first respondent submitted that the decision of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Sudesh Chhikara's case (supra) has been distinguished in a subsequent judgment in Urmila Dixit Vs. Sunil Sharan Dixit and Others reported in 2025 SCC OnLine SC 2 . According to him, the facts in Sudesh Chhikara's case (supra), where the gift deed was made by the mother in favour of her son, cannot be applied to the facts of the present case in hand, wherein the gift deed was made by the grandfather to the minor grandson. He also placed reliance on two revenue documents, whereby patta stood in the name of the appellant herein and since he possessed other properties by which he could maintain himself, the provisions of the Act will not apply.

4. Only on the ground that the gift deed did not incorporate the condition for the transferee to provide the basic amenities and basic physical needs, the learned Single Judge had quashed the order of the third respondent dated 10.05.2022. Apparently, the Writ Court applied the ratio decidendi rendered by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Sudesh Chhikara's case (supra), which had clarified that two conditions are mandatory to be incorporated in the recitals of the deed, in order to make it voidable. The relevant portion of the judgment reads as follows:-

“12. Sub-section (1) of Section 23 covers all kinds of transfers as is clear from the use of the expression “by way of gift or otherwise”. For attracting sub-section (1) of Section 23, the following two conditions must be fulfilled:

a. The transfer must have been made subject to the condition that the transferee