The Madras High Court has declared that if the transfer paperwork do not contain a phrase imposing the need that the recipient(s) to look after the giver, the property transferred by the elderly cannot be taken under the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act.
Under Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, property transferred by elderly people is exempt from being taken
For a property transfer to be declared void under Section 23 of the Act, there are two necessary prerequisites. The transfer paperwork must have been signed after the Act went into effect as the first requirement. As Justice R Subramaniam noted, the second is that it should impose a duty to maintain the transferor.
Property Transfer to be declared void under section 23 two necessary perquisites has to be fulfilled:
I. The transfer document should have been executed after the Act came into force
II. It should create an obligation to maintain the transferor
The Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO’s), in charge of the Maintenance Tribunals, cannot accept requests for declaring the documents void if any of the two prerequisites has not been met, the judge stated while dismissing the writ suit from S Selviraj Simpson recently.
In the petition, he requested a directive telling the RDO in Ambattur to investigate his complaint against his son, who had abandoned him.
However, the judge stated that, provided such a remedy is available, the petitioner may initiate the correct legal actions to request maintenance from the son and to request cancellation of the property transfer deed before a competent civil court.
The judge emphasised that Section 23 of the Act made it clear that any senior citizen who had transferred their property, whether by gift or other means, after the start of the salute could only seek cancellation on the basis of failure to maintain them if the transfer had been made with the understanding that they would be maintained by the transferee.
The transfer should be regarded as having been made by fraud, coercion, or under undue influence if the Maintenance Tribunal established under the statute was satisfied with the charge of failure to maintain, the judge said. It could also be declared void at the request of others if the senior citizen was unable to enforce his or her rights.
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