Section 126 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882, lays down as under:
“126. When gift may be suspended or revoked.— The donor and donee may agree that on the happening of any specified event which does not depend on the will of the donor a gift shall be suspended or revoked, but a gift which the parties agree shall be revocable wholly or in part at the mere will of the donor is void wholly or in part, as the case may be.
A gift may also be revoked in any of the cases (save want or failure of consideration) in which, if it were a contract, it might be rescinded.
Save as aforesaid, a gift cannot be revoked.
Nothing contained in this section shall be deemed to affect the rights of transferees for consideration without notice.
Illustrations
(a) A gives a field to B, reserving to himself, with B’s assent, the right to take back the field in case B, and his descendants die before A. B dies without descendants in A’s lifetime. A may take back the field.
(b) A gives a lakh of rupees to B, reserving to himself, with B’s assent, the right to take back at pleasure Rs 10,000 out of the lakh. The gift holds good as to Rs 90,000 but is void as to Rs 10,000 which continue to belong to A.”
Section 126 of the Transfer of Property Act thus clearly says that a gift which the parties agree shall be revocable wholly or in part at the mere will of the donor is void wholly or in part, as the case may be. Thus, if a gift makes it revocable at the will of the donor is void, i.e., it is invalid gift and is of no effect in law. Such a gift cannot be made.
Moreover, Section 126 further says that “Save as aforesaid, a gift cannot be revoked”. Thus, barring the situations mentioned in Section 126, a gift cannot be revoked. And, none of these situations cover revocation of a gift at the sweet will of the donor of the gift.
Therefore, coming back to your question, once a gift of an immovable property has been registered, it cannot be revoked by the donor at his will. Moreover, if there is a clause in the gift deed that it could be revoked at the will of the donor in future, then such gift deed itself is void.
Dr. Ashok Dhamija is a New Delhi based Supreme Court Advocate and author of law books. Read more about him by clicking here. List of his Forum Replies. List of his other articles. List of his Quora Answers. List of his YouTube Videos.
.
