GEETHA VIJAYANARAYANAN Vs. DISTRICT REGISTRAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petitioner and her husband are Indian citizens, and her son Dilip Panikath Vijay is a citizen of United States of America. He does not hold an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) Card. Petitioner along with her husband has purchased Apartment No. 15 B bearing Door No. 1/457/116 of Thrissur Corporation situated in Re. Sy. Block No. 51, Re. Sy. No. 21/25 of Viyyur Village by virtue of sale deed dtd. 15/5/2019 bearing No.1303/2019 of Thrissur Sub Registrar Office. Subsequently, the petitioner and her husband transferred their 1/3rd right in the apartment to their son Dilip by virtue of Ext P2 settlement deed dtd. 5/10/2019 bearing No. 2505/2019 of Thrissur Sub Registrar Office.

(2.) Petitioner's son Dilip, who is settled in USA wants to transfer his 1/3rd right in the apartment covered by Ext.P2 to the petitioner as he is not intended to settle here in Kerala. So, he has decided to execute a settlement deed in favour of the Petitioner. Thereafter, Ext P3 draft settlement deed was prepared and presented before the 2nd respondent, which was refused by the 2nd respondent on the ground that the settlor in the said deed is a Foreign Citizen and since the petitioner's son is not having an OCI card as per the FEMA Act, the property cannot be transferred to her. Aggrieved by the action on the part of 2nd respondent in refusing to register Ext.P3 draft settlement deed, the petitioner approached this Court.

(3.) According to the counsel for the petitioner, the property has been acquired by the petitioner's son from her without obtaining any amount and now, the same property is being returned to her by Ext.P3. Hence, there is no violation of FEMA Act or Foreign Exchange Management (Non- debt Instruments) Rules, 2019, and there is no prohibition to transfer. The proposed settlement merely retransfers the very same property to the original owner and does not involve any commercial transaction, sale, or exchange for consideration.