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Maragadham v. Periyaraja

Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 757Decided 29 Jul 2026
Civil Appeal No. 12190 of 2025
Justice Sanjay Kumar · Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva

Background

The plaintiff claimed absolute ownership of certain agricultural land in Tamil Nadu under a 1990 registered gift deed executed by her grandfather, Kuttiyappa Goundar. He had inherited the land, along with his daughter (one of the defendants), upon the death of his wife, the original owner. The trial court decreed the suit in the plaintiff's favour, but the First Appellate Court and the Madras High Court reversed that decision, holding the gift deed void because Kuttiyappa Goundar owned only a half-share and could not gift the entire property without his co-owner daughter's consent.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that because the property, after the mother's death, devolved on Kuttiyappa Goundar and his daughter as tenants-in-common rather than as coparcenary property, his undivided half-share was his to gift freely without needing his co-owner's consent, so the gift deed was valid to that extent. However, since the property had never been formally partitioned, the plaintiff could not claim ownership or possession of the whole; she was entitled only to a declaration of title over an undivided half-share, and would need to bring a separate partition suit to actually carve out her portion. The appeal was allowed only in part on this basis.

Lesson Learnt

A co-owner can freely gift or sell his own undivided share in jointly inherited property without the other co-owner's permission, but the person receiving it only gets that fractional share, getting an actual, physical portion of the property still requires a separate partition proceeding.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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