ORDER

1. The petitioner, who is the father of a person suffering from severe mental retardation and certified to be suffering from a 90% disability, assails the validity of Rule 17(1)(iii)(a) of the National Trust for Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities Rules, 2000 [Rules] as well as Regulation 12(1)(i) of the Board of the Trust Regulations, 2001 [Regulations] which restrict the appointment of a guardian to a person who is an Indian citizen. The challenge is essentially mounted on the assertion that Rule 17 as well as Regulation 12 are ultra vires the parent provisions contained in the National Trust for the Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities Act, 1999 [the Act]. The submission proceeds on the premise that in the absence of the parent Act disabling a non-citizen from applying to be appointed as a guardian of a person with disabilities, such a prescription could not have been introduced by virtue of delegated legislation and in this case the Rules read with the Regulations.

2. The son of the petitioner who is a major is one who is described to suffer from severe ment