Summary of this article
Supreme Court invalidates gift deed over previously relinquished family property.
Earlier family settlement established ownership rights over disputed ancestral land.
Supreme Court overturns lower court rulings in property dispute.
The Supreme Court has ruled that a person cannot gift property rights that he had already given up under a family settlement. The Court overturned earlier rulings in a dispute involving land in Telangana, finding that the courts had failed to account for an agreement under which a man had relinquished his claims over certain properties.
The dispute involved a gift deed executed in 2007, even though the man had given up his rights over the land more than two decades earlier under a family compromise.
Family Settlement at the Centre of the Dispute
The disagreement goes back to a family settlement, agreed to on April 19, 1959, which allocated ancestral land among family members. As per the agreement, Madhusudhan Reddy got some properties, while his mother Manikyamma got some land in Karkalpahad village.
In February 1986, when there was a dispute regarding the family properties, Madhusudhan Reddy reached a compromise with Anasuyamma and her adopted son Venkatraji Reddy.
As part of the agreement, he gave up his claims over the properties allotted to his mother. In return, he secured full ownership rights over a house in Himayatnagar, Hyderabad. The compromise was subsequently accepted by the High Court in September 1990.
However, in April 2007, Madhusudhan Reddy executed a registered gift deed in favour of Siddhartha Reddy, transferring land parcels in Karkalpahad village.
Other family members opposed the transfer, contending that the land was not included with the properties allotted to Madhusudhan Reddy under the original settlement. They argued that he had already given up his rights to the disputed territory as part of the 1986 compromise.
Supreme Court Overturned its Previous Decisions
Anasuyamma, Venkatraji Reddy and another member of the family went to court to establish their rights of ownership and to set aside the gift deed. They also wanted changes to the revenue records and protection from interference with their property.
In 2012, they filed a suit before the trial court, which dismissed it. In 2022, the Telangana High Court accepted the order, and the family members took it to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court ruled that the lower courts did not take into account the conditions of the 1959 family settlement and the compromise. These documents have played a crucial role in deciding whether Madhusudhan Reddy had any rights whatsoever in the properties at the time of execution of the gift deed or not.
The apex court decided that the previous judgments were unsustainable due to an error in assessing the family agreements. The Supreme Court allowed the appeal, set aside the orders passed by the lower courts and allowed the family members who had objected to the gift deed.
