The requirement for a guardianship certificate under specific statutes and circulars to operate a PPF Account was found to be untenable, and the court appointed the petitioners as guardians of the account.

JUDGMENT :

Rajiv Shakdher, J.

1. The petitioners' cause raises a serious public concern even while it espouses a private grievance qua respondent no.2 i.e. the State Bank of India (hereafter referred to as "SBI"). The petitioners before me are the daughters of, one, Mrs. Saroj Sharma, wife of deceased Mr. Anand Ballabh Sharma. Mrs. Saroj Sharma has been arrayed as respondent no.4 in the instant writ petition.

2. The petitioners are aggrieved by the fact that the SBI has not given them recourse to the Public Provident Fund account bearing No.10819169395 (hereafter referred to as "PPF Account") which was opened and maintained by their father i.e. Mr. Anand Ballabh Sharma, during his lifetime, upon their mother Mrs. Saroj Sharma slipping into a comatose state.

3. Notice in this petition was issued on 16.10.2019. On behalf of respondent no.1 i.e. Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (hereafter referred to as "GNCTD"), notice was accepted by Mr. Kushagra Pandey, Advocate, while, on behalf of the SBI, notice was accepted by Mr. Rajiv Kapoor, Advocate.

3.1. Notably, on that date, Ms. Ruchika Arora, Deputy Manager, SBI was also present in court.

4. After recording, broadly, the grievance of the petitioners advanced by their counsel, a direction was issued to GNCTD to appoint a doctor having the necessary expertise who would visit Mrs. Saroj Sharma and thereafter report to the court as regards her mental health. It was also indicated in the order that the doctor who would visit Mrs. Saroj Sharma would also opine as to whether or not the disease from which she was said to be suffering fell within the ambit of the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 (in short "2017 Act") and/or the National Trust for Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities Act, 1999 (in short "1999 Act").

4.1. The writ petition was posted for further proceedings on 20.11.2019.

5. On 20.11.2019, learned counsel for GNCTD placed before me a report of the medical board constituted by the Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHBAS) comprising Dr. Kumar Abhinav, Senior Resident, Neurology; Dr. Shubhangi Singh, Senior Resident, Psychiatry; and Dr. Jagdish Sadiza, Clinical Psychologist. The report was submitted under a cover of the letter dated 20.11.2019.

5.1. As noted in the order dated 20.11.2019, Dr. Kumar Abhinav and Dr. Shubhangi Singh were present in court. Both the doctors, on being queried, confirmed that Mrs. Saroj Sharma, (erroneously referred to as respondent no.1 in paragraph 4 of the order dated 20.11.2019), was in "coma (vigil)" state, which, according to them, was equivalent to being in a "vegetative state".

5.2. Furthermore, the medical board also opined that the condition of Mrs. Saroj Sharma was such that it did not fall within the ambit of either the 2017 Act or the 1999 Act. Although the report did suggest that a further assessment could be carried out by a multi-speciality general hospital such as AIIMS, RML, or G.B. Pant Hospital, I concluded, in the order dated 20.11.2019, that in view of the opinion rendered by the medical board concerning the condition of Mrs. Saroj Sharma, any further assessment, as suggested, would only prolong the matter.

5.3. In the very same order, I also noticed the guidelines suggested by the Division Bench of the Kerala High Court in the matter of Shobha Gopalakrishnan vs. State of Kerala,2019 SCC OnLine Ker 739.

5.4. Resultantly, having regard to the guidelines framed in the said matter, I directed the concerned SDM/Tehsildar to submit a report to the court with regard to the relevant facts and circumstances, concerning the matter at hand, including the particulars of close relatives, their financial conditions and such other aspects, as may be found necessary in terms of the guideline No.(iii) [1] contained in the aforementioned judgment.

6. I also noticed in t