The Supreme Court of India has delivered a landmark ruling clarifying how property transactions made by guardians on behalf of minors are treated once those minors attain adulthood. The Court held that if a guardian sells a minor’s property without securing prior approval from a court as required under the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956 that transaction is voidable, not void, and can be rejected by the minor after reaching majority through their actions rather than by filing a formal lawsuit.
The ruling came in a case involving two plots of land sold by a father who acted as guardian for his minor sons. He completed the sale without judicial sanction. After the sons became adults, they sold the same property to another buyer. The original purchaser under the guardian’s sale challenged this later transfer, arguing that the minors had no right to resell the land without first setting aside the earlier transaction through court proceedings.
A bench of the Supreme Court dismissed that contention, holding that explicit conduct by the former minor — such as selling or transferring the property again — is enough to repudiate the earlier unauthorized sale. The Court clarified that the law does not demand a separate lawsuit to declare the guardian’s sale invalid. “Repudiation through unequivocal conduct is sufficient,” the judgment said.
The bench further pointed out that a property sale made without court permission during a person’s minority remains legally valid until the minor decides to reject it upon attaining majority. Once the person acts inconsistently with that earlier transaction — for example, by selling the property — the sale made by the guardian automatically loses its validity.
In addition, the Court reiterated that a person acting under a power of attorney cannot testify on matters that fall within the personal knowledge of the principal, emphasizing the evidentiary limits of such representation in property disputes.
This judgment settles a long-standing area of uncertainty in property law, ensuring that minors who were wronged by unauthorized sales of their assets have the flexibility to assert their rights through conduct rather than being burdened with unnecessary litigation.
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