Section 23(1) of the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007, applies only if the senior citizen is the transferor. However, under Section 23(2), a senior citizen with a right to receive maintenance from an estate can enforce that right against the transferee.

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KULDEEP TIWARI, J. (ORAL)

1. Through the instant writ petition, the petitioner has assailed the order dated 12.07.2022 passed by the Appellate Tribunal, insofar as it sets aside the directions issued by the Maintenance Tribunal vide order dated 07.04.2022 directing transfer of land measuring 40 kanals, out of the total 118 kanals and 15 marlas, in favour of the petitioner.

2. Succinctly stated, the petitioner instituted an application under Section 23 of the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 (hereinafter referred to as “the Act of 2007”) before the Maintenance Tribunal seeking cancellation of the transfer deed dated 27.06.2011, whereby land measuring 118 kanals and 15 marlas had been transferred in favour of respondent No.2 (her son). The Maintenance Tribunal partly allowed the application vide order dated 07.04.2022 and granted the following reliefs:-

“...So, I, Sub-Divisional Magistrate, in exercise of my powers as competent authority under ‘The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizen Act, 2007’ order that respondent Davinder Singh will deposit Rs.10,000/- every month as maintenance of applicant Angrej Kaur during her life time up to 5th day of every month in her bank account. Besides this, out of Deed No.2015 dated 27/6/2011 of land measuring 118 kanal 15 marla (total area) done by the husband of the applicant namely Lal Singh, I order for the change of 40 Kanal of area in the name of applicant Angrej Kaur so that she may spend the rest of her life with comfort and may marry her daughter....”

3. Aggrieved by the order (supra), respondent No.2 preferred a statutory appeal before the Appellate Tribunal. The Appellate Tribunal, upon observing that the transfer deed in question had not been executed by the petitioner but by her deceased husband in favour of respondent No.2 and that, therefore, the essential ingredients for invoking Section 23 of the Act of 2007 for cancellation of the transfer deed were not satisfied, modified the order passed by the Maintenance Tribunal vide order dated 12.07.2022. Consequently, the directions pertaining to transfer of 40 kanals of land in favour of the petitioner were set aside. However, respondent No.2 was directed to pay maintenance @ ₹10,000/- per month to the petitioner, and also to provide her residential accommodation, including construction of a room/kitchen, if so required.

4. Learned counsel for the petitioner, while making strenuous efforts to persuade this Court that the provisions of Section 23 of the Act of 2007 could validly be invoked for cancellation of the transfer deed in question on account of the petitioner’s preexisting right in the property, fairly conceded that the transfer deed had not been executed by the petitioner herself, but by her deceased husband.

5. In order to adjudicate the controversy involved in the present case, it is apposite to first examine Section 23 of the Act of 2007, which reads as under:-

“23. Transfer of property to be void in certain circumstances.—

(1) Where any senior citizen who, after the commencement of this Act, has transferred by way of gift or otherwise, his property, subject to the condition that the transferee shall provide the basic amenities and basic physical needs to the transferor and such transferee refuses or fails to provide such amenities and physical needs, the said transfer of property shall be deemed to have been made by fraud or coercion or under un