Mst. KAMALAN BIBI vs PROVINCE OF PUNJAB through District Officer Oral gift

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Mst. KAMALAN BIBI VS PROVINCE OF PUNJAB through District Officer Oral gift---Inheritance---Suit for declaration filed by petitioner alongwith her sister challenging alleged oral gift on the grounds of fraud/collusion and being inoperative on their right of inheritance---Suit was concurrently dismissed---Contention that predecessor-in-interest of parties was survived by two daughters and two sons; that petitioner and her sister were owners of 1/3rd share in estate of their deceased father; that they were being paid share from the produce by respondents/defendants who stopped doing so a year before filing the suit and claimed the transfer of property in their name; that their deceased father had never made any gift nor transferred any part of his property in his lifetime, nor had appeared before revenue officials nor ever thumb-marked or signed the revenue papers pertaining to alleged mutation of gift; that mandatory ingredients of gift were never fulfilled, no offer/acceptance was ever made, nor was the possession ever transferred under oral gift; that particulars of the witnesses in whose presence the oral gift was alleged to have been made were not mentioned; venue of alleged oral gift and period before the alleged attestation of mutation was not mentioned---Validity---Neither patwari who allegedly entered the mutation in the roznamcha waqiati was produced nor copy of roznamcha waqiati itself was adduced---Revenue officer who allegedly attested the mutations was not produced in evidence---Mutations did not bear thumb-impression/signatures of deceased/alleged donor---Essential particulars of witnesses of oral gift were missing in written statement and in the statements of defendant's witnesses---Stance that witnesses were not alive was taken only in cross-examination although it had been suggested to the contrary---Respondents had to produce death certificates of the witnesses to prove their death or to produce some male member of the family of those witnesses in evidence to confirm the stance of alleged death---Best evidence in said respect was withheld---No explanation as to absence of person who was shown to have identified the alleged donor in one mutation---Considering the effect of absence of date, time, place and the names of the witnesses in whose presence the oral gift was allegedly made in the written statement as also in the evidence, it was observed that the beneficiary on whom the onus to prove the oral gift rested would be deemed to have utterly/miserably failed to prove the same in the manner prescribed by law---Mutations were attested in a casual manner and Revenue Officers did not attempt to find out the extraordinary reasons for depriving the daughters from inheritance or awarding special favour to the sons to the exclusion of the daughters---Daughters were not even summoned to find out as to whether any such transaction of gift was being made in reality by their father and also to their knowledge---Revenue officer had not indicated any special reason from the donor to deprive his daughters from their share of inheritance---Court below assumed that mere attestation of mutations would suffice to assume the declaration and acceptance of gift and transfer of possession---Mutations were not document of title---Where the transaction itself was in issue, beneficiary was legally obligated to discharge the onus by alleging/proving through credible evidence the prerequisites of a valid oral gift---Khasra girdawari for relevant year was not produced to support the plea of transfer of possession and non-production thereof was fatal to the stance of respondents---Revenue record transpired that fraud had been committed and the suit was instituted immediately thereafter---Pleadings and statement of witness revealed that said fact was affirmed which could not be dislodged in cross-examination---Revision petition was accepted and petitioner's suit was decreed as prayed for with costs throughout.

Mst. KAMALAN BIBI vs PROVINCE OF PUNJAB through District Officer Oral gift — 2022 CLC 890 LAHORE-HIGH-COURT-LAHORE

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