Introduction:
41. Transfer by ostensible owner
“Where, with the consent, express or implied, of the persons interested in immovable property, a person is the ostensible owner of such property and transfers the same for consideration, the transfer shall not be voidable on the ground that the transferor was not authorized to make it:
PROVIDED that the transferee, after taking reasonable care to ascertain that the transferor had power to make the transfer, has acted in good faith.”
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Ostensible owner is not the real owner but who can represent himself as the real owner to the third parties for such dealings. He has acquired that right by the willful neglect or acquiesces by the real owner of the property thereby conferring on him the status of ostensible owner. For instance, the property though in wife’s name however husband takes care of it and the related transactions, he can dispose off the property as an ostensible owner.
The phenomenon of appointing an ostensible owner is a principle of natural equity, which must be universally applicable, that where one man allows another to hold himself out as the owner of an estate, and a third person purchases it for value from the apparent owner in the belief that he is the real owner, the man who so allows the other to hold himself our shall not be permitted to recover upon his secret title, unless he can overthrow that of the purchaser by showing, either that he had direct notice,…show more content… In the case State of Punjab v. Surjit Kaur , owner’s widow had an authority over his estate as an ostensible owner, however it being limited only to life interest. Hence the rights of the transferee purchasing the property from her would be co-extensive with her and hence will cease to exist with her life time.
Duties of Transferee during