Ramesh returned to his village after years in the city and found that his ancestral plot had been sold using an old power of attorney he once gave his cousin as loan security. He believes it was never a real sale. Before he can undo it, the law puts one hard question on him: can he prove the fraud with solid evidence? A power of attorney does not by itself transfer ownership, but if you challenge a sale done through it, the burden to prove that the sale was fake sits squarely on you, the challenger.
When you challenge a sale made through a General Power of Attorney (GPA), a civil court works through the burden of proof roughly like this:
In short: no cogent evidence, no cancellation. The sale you dislike stays valid until you dismantle it with proof.
Quick answer: A GPA is not a valid way to transfer ownership of immovable property; only a registered sale deed transfers title (Suraj Lamp, 2012). But if a registered sale WAS executed using a GPA and you say it was a sham or only loan security, the burden of proving that fraud lies on you. In Mallika v. R. Nallathambi, 2026 INSC 529 (22 May 2026), the Supreme Court held that mere allegations of fraud or misuse of fiduciary position are not enough unless supported by reliable and cogent evidence.
Two separate ideas often get mixed up. Keep them apart.
1. A power of attorney does not transfer ownership. In Suraj Lamp & Industries (P) Ltd. v. State of Haryana, 2012 (1) SCC 656, the Supreme Court held that a sale agreement, GPA or will transaction does not convey title or create any interest in immovable property. Immovable property can be lawfully transferred only by a registered deed of conveyance. This flows from the Registration Act, 1908 (Sections 17 and 49, which make such documents compulsorily registrable) and the Transfer of Property Act, 1882 (Section 54, sale of immovable property needs a registered instrument). So a bare “GPA sale” transfers nothing.
2. But a registered sale deed signed by a GPA holder is a different animal. Very often the GPA holder actually executes a proper registered sale deed to the buyer. That registered deed can transfer title. If you now say that sale was fraudulent, or that you only gave the GPA as security for a loan and never meant to sell, you are attacking a completed registered transaction. That is where the burden of proof falls on you.
In Mallika v. R. Nallathambi, 2026 INSC 529, decided on 22 May 2026 by Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and Vipul M. Pancholi, the Court put it directly. The operative holding: the burden of establishing that the transactions were not genuine sale transactions rested upon the person alleging it, and “mere allegations of fraud or misuse of fiduciary position are not sufficient unless supported by reliable and cogent evidence.” The Court added that in the absence of such foundational evidence, the initial burden continued to remain upon the challenger. It also noted that where revenue records continue for many years, are supported by registered sale transactions and remain unchallenged for a long period, they become relevant factors while considering possession.
Under the ordinary law of evidence, the burden of proving fraud always lies on the person who alleges it. A court will not presume fraud from suspicion alone.
If you also believe the registration itself was irregular or the deed was forged, see our guide on whether a can revenue authority cancel a registered sale deed or whether that must go to a civil court.
Real-life example (illustrative): A retired teacher in Salem gave his nephew a GPA in 2014 to manage a plot while he was posted overseas, treating it as informal security for a family loan. In 2015 the nephew used the GPA to execute a registered sale deed to a third party, and mutation followed. The teacher filed a cancellation suit only in 2025. As legal educator Dr. Shrawan Kumar Pathak explains, the court did not doubt that a GPA cannot by itself pass title, but the teacher still had to prove the 2015 registered sale was a sham. With no bank trail showing a loan, no written condition on the GPA, and ten years of unchallenged mutation, he could not discharge that burden, and the sale stood. The lesson: keep written proof, and act quickly.
No. Following Suraj Lamp (2012), a GPA does not convey title or create any interest in immovable property. Ownership passes only through a registered deed of conveyance.
Usually the GPA holder executed a separate registered sale deed to the buyer. That registered deed, not the GPA, is what transferred title. To undo it you must challenge that sale deed.
You do. Per Mallika v. R. Nallathambi (2026 INSC 529), the burden of proving that a sale was not genuine lies on the person alleging fraud, and mere allegations are not enough without reliable and cogent evidence.
Documents showing the money was a loan not sale price, bank or cheque trails, written limits on the GPA, absence of consideration, and correspondence proving the GPA was only security.
A mutation entry alone does not transfer title. But long-standing mutations backed by registered sales and left unchallenged for years become persuasive evidence on possession and conduct.
Generally three years from when you learnt of the sale, for a suit to cancel the instrument or seek a declaration. Long delay, as in Mallika, seriously weakens your case.
No. A registered sale deed can only be cancelled or declared void by a civil court. Revenue and registration offices cannot undo it.
RTI lets you obtain the registered deed, EC, mutation file and GPA on record from the Sub-Registrar and revenue office when they refuse to share them, so you can build your evidence.