Gifts of agricultural land without consideration fall outside Section 32FF protection under the PEPSU Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act.

Gifts of agricultural land made out of natural love and affection were held not to be transfers for consideration for the purpose of the saving clause in Section 32FF of the PEPSU Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1955. The Court treated "consideration" in its contractual sense and held that a voluntary gift, by definition, is made without consideration; love and affection cannot be equated with valuable consideration. As a result, such gifts could not receive statutory protection under the provision, because extending the clause to them would undermine the Act's ceiling scheme.

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Issues: Whether gifts of agricultural land made out of natural love and affection could be treated as transfers for consideration so as to fall within the saving clause of Section 32FF of the PEPSU Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1955.

Analysis: Section 32FF protected only transfers or dispositions made for consideration within the specified limit. A gift, by its very definition under the Transfer of Property Act, is a voluntary transfer made without consideration. The expression "consideration" in that context was held to bear the same sense as in contract law and to exclude natural love and affection. A transfer founded on love and affection could not be equated with valuable consideration, and treating such gifts as protected would defeat the ceiling scheme of the Act.

Conclusion: The gifts did not qualify as transfers for consideration under Section 32FF and were rightly excluded from the protected category; the appeal failed.

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