CRP/5020/2011 of Peddamalla Suresh, Vs Yasa Venkateswarlu, on 30 December 2011

COMMON ORDER:

The petitioners herein are the plaintiffs. They filed Civil SuitO.S.(SR).No. 5023 of 2011 seeking for a declaration that the registeredcancellation of gift settlement deed bearing document No740 of 2002dated 16.02.2002 is null and void and for further declaring the suitschedule property as the Government land. On that basis, they alsosought for grant of perpetual injunction over the suit schedule propertyto restrain defendants 1 to 3, their agents or other men claimingthrough them from interfering with the possession and enjoyment of theland by the Government of Andhra Pradesh over the suit scheduleproperty.

2. Before I proceed any further, it would be appropriate to noticethat the Judgment of the Full Bench of this Court rendered in Yanala Malleshwari and others Vs. Anantula Sayamma and others[[1]],when appealed against in Civil Appeal No.317 of 2007, was set asideby the Supreme Court by the Judgment rendered on 13.07.2010. It willbe appropriate to notice the following principle from the said Judgmentof the Supreme Court.

In our opinion, there was no need for theappellants to approach the Civil Court as thesaid cancellation deed dated 4.8.2005 as well asregistration of the same was wholly void and nonest and can be ignored altogether. Forillustration, if ‘A’ transfers a piece of land to ‘B’ bya registered sale deed, then, if it is not disputedthat ‘A’ had the title to the land, that title passes to ‘B’ on the registration of the sale deed(retrospectively from the date of the execution ofthe same) and ‘B’ then becomes the owner of theland. If ‘A’ wants to subsequently get that saledeed cancelled, he has to file a civil suit forcancellation or else he can request ‘B’ to sell theland back to ‘A’ but by no stretch of imagination,can a cancellation deed be executed orregistered. This is unheard of in law.

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A reading of the above rule also supports theobservations we have made above. It is onlywhen a sale deed is cancelled by a competentCourt that the cancellation deed can beregistered and that too after notice to theconcerned parties. In this case, neither is thereany declaration by a competent court nor wasthere any notice to the parties. Hence, this Rulealso makes it clear that both the cancellationdeed as well as registration thereof were whollyvoid and non est and meaningless transactions.”

3. In view of the above legal position, the gift settlement said tohave been executed by the father of the defendants 1 to 3 in thecompany of Sri Rangacharyulu, gifting a parcel of land to theGovernment of Andhra Pradesh cannot be cancelled subsequently bythe legal representatives of only one donor.

4. When once an immovable property is gifted to the State and theState has accepted the same, thereupon, it becomes a property of theState and consequently general public will have a subsisting interesttherein. The State has got to be put on notice and heard before anysuch cancellation can be resorted to. It is important to bear in mind thatthere will not be any consideration for a gift. Once a gift is accepted bythe donee, and a conveyance deed is executed in that respect, the title over the said property passes on to the State. Unless the State itselftakes a decision to specifically alienate the property once again, in amanner known to law, property of the State cannot be re-conveyed tothe legal representatives of one of the donors. The cancellation of thegift deed, once accepted would not arise. Therefore, the orders passedby the Court below are manifestly unsustainable orders. Hence, theyare set-aside. State of Andhra Pradesh should be directed to beimpleaded as one of the defendants to the suit, so that it’s stand wouldbe known in the matter.

5. Therefore, both the revisions are allowed setting aside the orderspassed by the Civil Court in this regard.

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NOOTY RAMAMOHANA RAO, J

30[th] December, 2011sp

THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE NOOTY RAMAMOHANA RAO

CIVIL REVISION PETITION NOs.4651 AND 5020 OF 2011

30[th] December, 2011

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[1]2006 (6) ALT 523