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11. Pertinently, Section 53 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882 deals with fraudulent transfer. Accordingly, every transfer of immovable property made with intent to defeat or delay the creditors of the transferor shall be https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis voidable at the option of any creditor so defeated or delayed. Section 53 unambiguously stipulates that, even a fraudulent document is only voidable and not a void document. In respect of voidable documents, there is an option for the parties to rectify the fraud and make it valid and therefore, the documents registered prior to the insertion of Sections 22A, 22B and 77A cannot be subjected to cancellation under Section 77A of the Act.

12. Therefore, there are certain circumstances where a voidable document under Section 53 of the Transfer of Property Act, may be validated with the consent of the parties. That being the legal position in respect of such fraudulent documents, which are registered, the power to cancel conferred on the District Registrar cannot be given retrospective effect, so as to cancel the documents, which were registered several years or decades back.