Licensee has been defined under Section 52 of Indian Easement Act.

Meaning of Licence-

Section 52 licence means grant of permission by a person to the other, a right to do or continue to do, in or upon, the immovable property of the grantor, something which would, in the absence of such right, be unlawful. Such right is not an easement or any interest in the property. The right so conferred is a licence.

Mode of Licence

The grant of licence may be express or implied which can be inferred from the conduct of the grantor. A licence may be oral also in which case, terms, conditions and the nature of licence, can be gathered from the purpose for which the licence is granted coupled with the conduct of the parties and the circumstances which may have led to the grant of licencee. [R.S. Gupta v. B.N. Inter College, AIR 1987 SC 1242].

Essential features of a licence

The following are the essential features of a licence –

(1) A licence is not connected with ownership of any land but creates only a personal right or obligation, hence it cannot be assigned.

(2) It is purely a permissive right arising only by permission, express or implied and not by adverse exercise or in any other way, hence it is generally revocable at the will of the grantor.

(3) It only legalises a certain act which would otherwise be unlawful and does not confer any interest in the property itself or upon or over which act is allowed to be done.

When does a licence become revocable ?

As per Section 60 of Indian Easements Act a licence may be revoked by the grantor unless.

(i) it is coupled with a transfer of property and such transfer is in force;

(ii) the licensee, acting upon the licence, has executed a work of permanent character and incurred expenses in the execution.

The licence can be revoked at the will of the grantor, but under certain circumstances :

(i) when the licence is coupled with a transfer of property and such transfer is in force.

(ii) when the licensee has executed a work of permanent character on the faith of the licence and incurred expenses in the execution.