Once Donor Withdraws Suit For Cancellation Of Gift Deed Question Of Validity Of Deed Comes To End Against Him: Karnataka HC
The Karnataka High Court observed that the question as to the validity of the gift deed comes to an end when the donor withdraws suit for cancellation.
The Court said that if the donor had accepted the gift, his children, after his death, cannot be permitted to contend that the withdrawal of the suit seeking cancellation of the gift deed by the donor was improper.
The Court was hearing a Civil Revision Petition by the beneficiary-defendant who filed an application seeking for rejection of the plaint on the ground that when the donor himself had filed the suit and had withdrawn the said suit, his children could not be permitted to challenge the gift deed executed by their father.
The bench of Justice N S Sanjay Gowda observed, “A gift is between a donor and donee. If in a given case the donor, subsequent to the execution of the gift deed, institutes a suit for for cancellation of the gift deed that he had executed, but subsequently chooses to withdraw the same, the question as to whether the gift deed was valid comes to an end against the Donor.”
In the present case, respondents – petitioners Johnson Correya and Jensen Correya instituted a suit seeking for a declaration that the gift deed executed by their father in favour of the sole defendant V. Geetha was null and void.
The Court perused the Plaint and noted that the plaintiffs clearly admitted that their father had executed a registered gift deed in favour of the defendant and had also filed a suit seeking its cancellation, but ultimately he withdrew the suit on the ground that the issue between him and the defendant was settled out of Court.
The Court noted that as the petitioners did not challenge the order by which their father was permitted to withdraw the suit they cannot be permitted to get over the same by filing a fresh suit for cancellation.
According to the Court, the Trial Court without noticing this basic aspect of the matter that there was no cause of action has refused to reject the application which cannot be sustained.
As a consequence, the Court rejected the Plaint.
Accordingly, the Court allowed the Revision Petition.
Cause Title: Geetha v. Johnson Correya (Neutral Citation: 2024:KHC:13888)
Appearance:
Appellant: Adv. Shekarappa B.
Respondent: Adv. Rupa Ron
