# SHAKUNTLA v. HARYANA (Shinghal, !.)

- **Citation:** [1979] 3 S.C.R. 232
- **Court:** Supreme Court of India
- **Decided:** 1979-02-16
- **Case number:** Civil Appeal No. 1829-1831 of 1969
- **Bench:** P. N. Shinghal, D. A. Desai
- **Source:** https://unisonlegal.in/judgment/supreme-court-of-india/shakuntla-v-haryana-shinghal-7788
- **Pages:** 4

## Headnote

PEPSU 1 cna11cy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1955,
S.
32 FF,
whetherapplicable to gift of land by non-related donor.
f
•
'
The appellants were persons to whom gifts of agricultural lands were made
.,_
before July 30, 1958, for love and affection, by non-related donors. The Reve- --4_
nue authorities decided that these gifts were not protected by s. 32FF of the
i
PEPSU Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1955, as there had been no valuable "consideration", within the meaning of that section. A Division Bench ot
the Haryana High Court upheld the disn1issal of the appellants' writ petition,.
by a single Judge of th(lt court.
Dismissing the app'eals the Court,
HELD : It is the essence of a gift as defined in the Transfer of Property
1\ct, that it should be without "consideration•· of the nature defined in s. 2(d)
of the Contract Act, and as section 32FF of the Act saves 'only the transfer vr
disposition of land for "consideration" upto the limit specified in it, the gifts
under dispute, will not fall within the purview of that section.
Any other
view of the section would defeat the purpose of Chapter IV-A of the Act,
which provides for ceiling on land and acquisition and disposal of surplus
area. [234 E, G, H-235 A]
James Newton v. Robert Hargreaves, 135 ER 905; distinguished.

## Text

A
B
c
D
E
F
G
H
232
SHAKUNTLA ETC. ETC.
STATE ,OF HARYANA
February 16, 1979
[P. N. SHINGHAL AND D. A. DESAI, JJ.]
PEPSU 1 cna11cy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1955,
S.
32 FF,
whetherapplicable to gift of land by non-related donor.
f
•
'
The appellants were persons to whom gifts of agricultural lands were made
.,_
before July 30, 1958, for love and affection, by non-related donors. The Reve- --4_
nue authorities decided that these gifts were not protected by s. 32FF of the
i
PEPSU Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1955, as there had been no valuable "consideration", within the meaning of that section. A Division Bench ot
the Haryana High Court upheld the disn1issal of the appellants' writ petition,.
by a single Judge of th(lt court.
Dismissing the app'eals the Court,
HELD : It is the essence of a gift as defined in the Transfer of Property
1\ct, that it should be without "consideration•· of the nature defined in s. 2(d)
of the Contract Act, and as section 32FF of the Act saves 'only the transfer vr
disposition of land for "consideration" upto the limit specified in it, the gifts
under dispute, will not fall within the purview of that section.
Any other
view of the section would defeat the purpose of Chapter IV-A of the Act,
which provides for ceiling on land and acquisition and disposal of surplus
area. [234 E, G, H-235 A]
James Newton v. Robert Hargreaves, 135 ER 905; distinguished.
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 1829-1831
of 1969.
Appeals by Special Leave from the Judgment and Order dated
14-1-69 of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in LP.A. Nos. 256258 of 1966.
Y. C. Mahajan and Mrs. Urmila Kapur for the Appellant.
B. Dutta and R. N. Sachthey for the Respondent.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
SHINGHAL, J.-The appellants in these three appeals are aggrieved against a common judgment of the Punjab and Haryana High
Court dated January 14, 1969, by which the judgment of a learned
Single Judge of that Court dismissing their writ petitions was upheld
on the ground that the gifts to them did not fall within the purview
of the saving clause of section 32FF of the PEPSU Tenancy and
Agricultural Lands Act, 1955, hereinafter referred to as the Act.
•
•
~
•
I ..
~
SHAKUNTLA v. HARYANA (Shinghal, !.)
233
;.
'
•
•
1
I
It is not in dispute that a gift was made in each of these cases
before July 30, 1958, and in one case after August 21, 1956 but
before July 30, 1958. The donees were not persons who were not
related to the donors, and were persons to whom gifts were made of
agricultural lands for love and affection.
The revenue authorities
took the view that the gifts were not transfers of lands of the nature
protected by section 32FF of the Act as there was no valuable consideration, and mere love and affection was not "consideration" within the meaning of that section.
As the High Court has upheld that
view, the appellants feel aggrieved and have come up in appeal to
this Court by special leave.
.~
Section 32FF of the Act which deals with certain transfers which
are not to affect the surplus area of a landowner provides as follows,-
"32FF. Save in the case of land acquired by the State
Govermnent under any law for the time being in force or
by an heir by inheritance or up to 30th July, 1958 by a
landless person, or a small landowner, not being a relation
as prescribed of the person making the transfer or disposition of land, for consideration up to an area which with
oI without. the area owned or held by him does not in the
aggregate exceed the permissible limit no transfer or other
disposition of land effected after 21st August, 1956, shall
affect the right of the State Govermnent under this Act to
the surplus area to which it would be entitled but for such
transfer or disposition :
Provided that any person who has received . any advantage under snch transfer or disposition of land shall be
bound to restore it, or to make compensation for it, to the
.
person from whom he received it."
.~-The section therefore provides that no transfer or other disposition
of land effected after August 21, 1956, shall affect the rights of the
State Government under the Act to the surplus area to which it would
be entitled but for such transfer or disposition "save" in the case of
land acquired by the State Government under any law for the time
being in force, or by an heir by inheritance or up to July 30, 1958
•
by a landless person, or small landowner, not being a relation
as
prescribed of the person making the transfer or disposition of land,
provided that it is for "consideration", up to an area' which with or
without the area owned or held by him does not in the aggre~ate
exceed the permissible limit. The only point in controversy before
us is whether the gifts of land which were made in the three cases
16-196 SCI/79
A
B
c
D
E
F
G
H
B
c
D
E
F
G
234
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[1979] 3 s.c.R.
under appeal on account of natural love and affection, could be said
to be transfers of the lands for consideration ? It has been argued
on behalf of the appellants that the aforesaid gifts were in the nature
of transfer of property as defined in section 5 of the Transfer
of
Property Act and it did not matter if they were by way of gift and
did not amount to sale or exchange.
Section 5 of the Transfer of Property Act defines "transfer of
property" to mean an act by which a living person conveys property,
in present or in future, inter alia, to one or more other living persons.
Such transfer of property may be made by one of the several modes
known to law e.g. by sale, exchange or gift etc. It is not the case
of the appellants that the transfers under consideration were by way
of sale or exchange or that they were made otherwise than by way
of gift to them.
Section 122 of the Transfer of Property Act defines "gift"
as
follows,-
"122. "Gift" is the transfer of certain existing moveable or immoveable property made voluntarily and without
consideration, by one person, called the donor, to another
called the donee, and accepted by or on behalf of the donee."
It is therefore one of the essential requirements of a gift that it should
be made by the donor "without consideration''.
The word "consideration" has not been defined in the Transfer of Property Act, but
we have no doubt that it has been used in that Act in the same sense
as in the Indian Contract Act and excludes natural love and affection. If it were to be otherwise, a transfer would really amount to
a sale within the meaning of section 54 of the Transfer of Property
Act, or to an exchange within the meaning of section 118 for each
party will have the rights and be subject to the liabilities of a seller
as to what he gives and have the rights a11d be subject to the liabi•
lities of a buyer as to that which he takes.
It is not necessary for us
to examine the ,other modes of transfer, for they have no bearing
on the nature of the controversy before us. It would thus appear
1!hat it is of the essence of a gift as defined in the Transfer of Property Act that it should be without "consideration" of the nature
defined in section 2 ( d) of the Contract Act,
Now what section 32FF of the Act saves is transfer or dispoB
sition of land for "consideration" up to the limit specified in it, and
as a gift is always without consideration, the gifts which are
the
subject matter of controversy before us will not fall within the purI
•
•
•
'
SHAKUNTLA V. HARYANA (Shinghal, J.)
23 5
view of that section, and have rightly been excluded while calculatA
ing the surplus area in the three cases before us.
Any other view
--Of the section would defeat the purpose of Chapter IV-A of the Act
which provides for ceiling on land and acquisition and disposal of
surplus area.
Mr. Mahajan for the appellants tried to argue that "good consiB
•
·deration" has been defined in Black's Law Dictionary (fourth edition) to mean "such as is founded on natural duty and affection'',
cand would amount to consideration within the meaning of section
32FF of the Act.
But even there it has been clarified that "good"
~· is generally used "in antithesis to valuable consideration". which has
A'
~ necessarily to be excluded in the case of a gift by virtue of its defi-
.,
nition in section 122 of the Transfer of Property Act.
The rirgument of learned counsel becomes untenable on a reference to 17
C.J.S. Contract 91-92 on which he has placed considerable reliance.
We have also gone through James Newton v. Robert Hargreaves, Cl
:but it cannot avail the appellants for there the conveyance was by the
father to his two sons in consideration of natural Jove and affection
and the law acknowledged that to be a "good" consideration, which
is not so in the cases before us.
There is thus no force in these appeals and they arc dismissed
with costs.
M.R.
Appeals dismissed.
(1) 135 E. R. 905,
c
D