Senior Citizens Act — Limits on Tribunal's Jurisdiction · 23 September 2026

Balveer Singh v. State of U.P.: Senior Citizens Tribunal Cannot Decide a Forged-Gift-Deed Claim, Allahabad High Court Holds

High Court of Judicature at Allahabad · 2026:AHC:193275-DB; WRIT-C No. 36504 of 2026

A 68-year-old man sought eviction of his daughter and son-in-law from his Lalitpur home under Sections 22 and 23 of the Senior Citizens Act, alleging they had forcibly taken possession using a gift deed dated November 2023 that he said was forged — he had had no contact with his daughter, he said, since her marriage in 2004. The District Magistrate, acting as the Tribunal, had constituted inquiry committees to examine the forgery allegation and then rejected his application.

A Division Bench of Justice J.J. Munir held that Section 23(1) of the Act creates a legal fiction of fraud only where a senior citizen voluntarily transferred property on condition of being maintained and the transferee later reneges — it does not extend to a claim that no valid transfer was ever executed at all because the document itself is forged. That kind of dispute, the Court held, can only be adjudicated by a civil court, and family relationship between the parties does not change that jurisdictional limit. The Court also criticised the District Magistrate for using administrative inquiry committees rather than the judicial procedure — evidence on oath, with the parties present — that Sections 6 and 8 of the Act require, and dismissed the petition, leaving the man free to pursue cancellation of the deed before a civil court.

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