In a gift the donor may impose condition upon the donee or restrict the enjoyment of the property gifted and that condition and limitation must be accepted by donee during the life time of the donee. A limited interest can also be created by a Will; by a deed of partition or by a family settlement. But it is impossible to conceive a deed of Conveyance creating a life estate by the vendor in favour of the vendee. The Conveyance is not required to be accepted by the purchaser as in the case of a gift. There is no evidence that Kalidashi imposed upon her the "self-denying ordinance" or created "an implied trust" by imposing a limitation upon herself. Undoubtedly she was capable and competent to impose upon her restriction on her proprietary rights but she could not by a collateral agreement annex a condition to an absolute grant. The learned Additional District Judge found no word of limitation being there in the premises, but the habendurn, a special provision prevailed over the general provision in the Conveyance. It was not open to Kalidashi to say that she had accepted the Conveyance minus "habendum". According to the learned Judge, Kalidashi created an implied trust by imposing a limitation on herself, it was her creation, a "self-denying ordinance". Vendor divested himself of all he had. His right, title and interest was extinguished. The new right came into being was the right of Kalidashi for her life and after her, of others. Kalidashi could and did limit her own interest.
When a property is transferred absolutely, it must be transferred with all its legal incidents, the vendor is not competent to sever from, the right of property incidents which the law inseparably annexes to it, and thereby to abrogate the law by private arrangement, creating a life estate in favour of the vendee in a deed of Conveyance.
A purchaser cannot limit her own interest in a Conveyance executed by her vendor. She can do so by executing a deed by herself.
So, in my view, a haben-dum cannot override Section 54 of the Transfer of Property Act. A sale is a transfer of ownership of the property. By a transfer, a transferor divested himself of his interest in the property to the transferee. Thereafter he has got no right to create a life estate in favour of a transferee. If any condition or limitation is imposed in the deed of Conveyance that are repugnant to Section 11 of the Transfer of Property Act.
Calcutta High Court
Sm. Manjusha Debi vs Sunil Chandra Mukherjee And Ors. on 21 March, 1972
Equivalent citations: AIR 1972 Cal 310
Bench: A K Mookerji
