The Supreme Court has ruled that once a property sale is executed under a valid Power of Attorney (PoA), it cannot be overturned merely because the PoA was later revoked.
This decision came as the Court upheld a trial court’s dismissal of a suit seeking to annul sales that took place years earlier. The case involved a plaintiff who granted a PoA in 2004, allowing property transactions between 2004-2009. However, in 2015, the plaintiff claimed he had only recently discovered the sales and subsequently revoked the PoA, filing a lawsuit in 2018 to challenge the transactions.
The trial court dismissed the case, determining that the plaintiff had prior knowledge of the sales, making the suit time-barred. The High Court later revived the case, arguing that the limitation period should begin from the date the PoA was canceled.
The Supreme Court rejected this reasoning, emphasizing that completed transactions under a valid PoA remain legally sound, even if the PoA is later revoked. The bench stated that a revocation does not grant the principal the right to challenge past actions taken under the original authority.
By ruling in favor of the defendant, the Supreme Court reinforced that property transactions executed under a properly granted PoA remain binding, and subsequent cancellations cannot be used as a legal loophole to challenge concluded deals.
