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Supreme Court of India 2019-09-23 dismissed

GOVINDBHAI CHHOTABHAI PATEL vs PATEL RAMANBHAI MATHURBHAI

Bench: 2 — L. Nageswara Rao, Hemant Gupta

In Brief

Govindbhai and his brothers, sons of a deceased donor, challenged a gift deed their father executed in favour of Ramanbhai in 1977. They claimed the property was ancestral and the deed was forged. The Supreme Court upheld the High Court's dismissal of the suit, holding that since their grandfather purchased the property and bequeathed it to their father by will, it remained self-acquired property in their father's hands, not ancestral. As a self-acquired property, their father could validly gift it. The appellants failed to prove forgery through proper evidence; their mere allegations of forgery, without expert analysis or specimen signatures, were insufficient. The court noted that Ramanbhai had cared for the aging donor while the sons lived abroad.

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Succession Law Gift Deed Hindu Law Evidence Ancestral Property Testamentary Succession

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