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Section 28: Ulterior transfer conditional on happening or not happening of specified event

Transfer of Property Act • Official Statutory Text & Practice Guide

Statutory Regulation
Legal Standard
Competent Court / Tribunal
Act 1882
Section 27 All 137 Sections of Transfer of Property Act Section 29

Legal Commentary & Landmark Judgments: Section 28

Section 28 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882 authorizes conditional limitations and executory gifts over, shifting property to a secondary taker upon the occurrence of a specified event.

  • Core Legal Standard: Section 28 provides that on a transfer of property, an interest therein may be created to accrue to any person with the condition superadded that in case a specified uncertain event shall happen such interest shall pass to another person, or that in case a specified uncertain event shall not happen such interest shall pass to another person.
  • Statutory Period of Limitation: This codifies the doctrine of conditional limitations and executory gifts over.

Under Section 30, the prior disposition is not affected by the invalidity of the ulterior disposition; if the ulterior gift over is void for perpetuity or illegality, the first transferee retains absolute title.

Key Landmark Precedents:
  • Govindbhai v. Babubhai (AIR 1982 Guj 122): The Gujarat High Court held that an executory gift over under Section 28 is valid provided it satisfies the rules against perpetuity and alienation; if the gift over fails, the prior estate becomes indefeasible under Section 30.
  • Rani Amrit Kunwar v. Gur Charan Singh (AIR 1934 All 251): The Court held that an ulterior transfer conditioned on the failure of male issue operates as a valid conditional limitation under Section 28.
Legal Commentary:

Section 28 enables settlors to create defeasible estates (e.g. 'to A, but if A dies without surviving children, then to B'). If the shifting condition occurs, A's estate terminates automatically and vests in B without requiring court intervention.

Section 27 All 137 Sections of Transfer of Property Act Section 29