Section 17(a) of the Registration Act, 1908 requires that gifts of immovable property made by or through written documents require registration.

 Since the basis of the gift was the gift document we drew the attention of the learned counsel to Chapter VII of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882 and to its section 123, relevant portion whereof stipulates, that, ‘For the purpose of making a gift of immovable property, the transfer must be effected by a registered instrument signed by or on behalf of the donor and attested by at least two witnesses.’ We questioned how the gift document could be used to gift the House. The learned counsel responds by submitting that the gift was made orally as mentioned in the gift document, which is titled ‘Declaration of Oral Gift’. We have examined the gift document which states that the, ‘DONOR, hereby gift the above said property…’, that is, the House. It is thus clear that the gift document did not merely record an earlier oral gift but it was through the gift document that the House was purportedly gifted. The title of the gift document is inconsequential in view of its clear and unambiguous contents, which stated that the House was sought to be gifted by and through the gift document. The cited case of Bilawar Khan has no relevance to the facts of the instant case.

Section 17(a) of the Registration Act, 1908 requires that gifts of immovable property made by or through written documents require registration. Therefore, the gift document required registration. It would also require stamping pursuant to the Stamp Act, 1899. In the absence of the statutory requirement of registration of the gift document it could not be used to transfer the property to the petitioner.

Civil Petitions No. 1319 of 2020 & 1410 of 2021

Muhammad Farrukh Iqbal Versus Mrs. Ayesha Iram, etc.