Signatures on the gift deed

Evid3ence on records in Sub Registarar office will govern the matter in question.

In response to your query,

A Gift deed is said to be the transfer of property. This property must be existing movable or immovable and must be made voluntarily and without consideration in return. A gift is made by a donor to a donee and is accepted by the donee themselves or on behalf of the donee. This is what a Gift is according to Section 122 of the Transfer of Property Act 1882.

When it comes to the signatures that must be present on a gift deed, it is crucial that there are all 4 signatures on all the pages of the deed.

The 4 signatures being that of the donor, donee and 2 witnesses.

However, one must recognise that a gift deed and a settlement deed are not the same.

A gift deed refers to a legal document that talks about the voluntary transfer of gifts from a donor to a donee without any exchange of money or consideration. While on the other hand, a settlement deed talks about a document that formalizes an agreement between relevant parties to settle a dispute.

In a significant judgment delivered last week, the Supreme Court held that with reference to Section 68 of the Indian Evidence Act unless the execution of a Gift Deed is specifically denied, it is not mandatory to specifically lead the evidence of an attesting witness to prove the Gift Deed.

And so if the execution of the settlement deed is not specifically denied then the settlement deed will be considered valid.

In this particular case the document has been executed as GIFT SETTLEMENT DEED....

Is this valid?