The Kerala High Court stated that just because a gift is written down by a Muslim instead of being given verbally, it does not turn into a formal document or gift instrument.
The Kerala High Court noted that just because a Muslim writes down a gift instead of giving it verbally, that writing does not turn into a formal gift document. The Court explained that the nature of the gift remains the same whether it is given orally or in writing. This case involved a Writ Petition discussing the rules about property gifts under Muslim Personal Law. Justice Kauser Edappagath stated, “Just because the gift is written down by a Muslim, rather than being given orally, does not make it a formal gift document.”
The Petitioner, a Muslim adhering to Muslim Personal Law, contested the Village Officer’s decision to deny the change of ownership for property gifted to him by his father through an unregistered gift deed for 14 cents of land. The Petitioner claimed he received the property as an oral gift, followed by an unregistered deed three days later, and took possession. However, the Village Officer rejected his request for ownership change due to the deed not being registered. Therefore, the Petitioner appealed. The Court remarked, “A gift under Muslim law is called hiba. Any Muslim, regardless of their legal school, can make a hiba of their entire property. A hiba is a mutual agreement that takes effect when the donor states they are giving a gift and the recipient accepts it.”
The Court referred to the case of Hafeeza Bibi v. Shaikh Farid, stating that for a gift to be valid under Muslim Law, three key requirements must be met. The method of documentation does not matter. If the three requirements—declaration, acceptance, and delivery of possession—are fulfilled, the gift is valid, even if it is written on a simple piece of paper. The Court also highlighted Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer’s point that a Muslim gift can be valid without a registered deed and may be invalid even if it is registered. The Court confirmed that all conditions for a Muslim gift were met in this case. Therefore, the Court overturned the Village officer’s order and resolved the Writ Petition.
Cause Title: Razak H v. Additional Tahsildar (Neutral Citation: 2024:KER:78277)
Appearance:
Appellant: Advocates Jacob Sebastian, Winston KV, Anu Jacob, Bharath Krishnan G and Arundhathi Suresh Babu
Respondent: GP BS Syamanthak
