There cannot be any oral gift of an immovable property, it can only be done by a registered instrument

The Delhi High Court has laid down that there cannot be any oral gift of an immovable property and that a gift becomes legally effectively only when a registered instrument is executed in the manner laid down in Section 123 of the Transfer of Property Act 1881.

This was held in the matter titled as Asha Malik vs Uma Singh RFA No. 589/2018 on 25.07.18

Issue:

The issue was between a mother and daughter whether the daughter has proved that the mother gave an oral gift of the suit property at the time of marriage of the daughter and that possession was delivered to her on 24.4.1991 i.e the very next date of the marriage which was solemnized on 23.4.1991. The best proof that a thing has happened is the fact that it is shown to have been acted upon as such. If the daughter was gifted the suit property, then she would also have acted as an owner of the suit property from 24.4.1991. However it is seen that from 24.4.1991 till the suit was filed on 16.9.2006 daughter/appellant no.1 have not applied for mutation of the suit property in the Municipal Corporation record. Also, neither there is any receipt issued by the Municipal Corporation for house tax in the name of the appellant no.1 nor the appellant no.1 has filed and proved any receipts of house tax showing that she acted as an owner by making payment of the house tax of the property from the year 1991 till the suit was filed in the year 2006. Also no income tax returns or any other public record, or even a private document executed by the mother, has been filed by the daughter/appellant the suit property stands gifted to the appellant no.1/daughter by the mother. Therefore the argument that the suit property was orally gifted to the daughter/appellant no.1 at her time of marriage is rejected.

Held:

The Supreme Court in the case of Kamla Devi vs. Bachu Lal Gupta AIR 1957 SC 434 had specifically stated that a gift becomes legally effectively only when a registered instrument is executed in the manner laid down in Section 123 of the Transfer of Property Act 1881.

Section 123 of the Transfer of Property Act provides in that gift of an immovable property can only and only be by means of a registered instrument and which is to be appropriately witnessed.