Point of Law : Appointment of guardian - Article 226 of the Constitution empowers this Court to pass suitable orders on an application being filed to appoint a guardian or a next friend to an incompetent person like the petitioners' mother who is in persistent vegetative state.

JUDGMENT :

1. Heard Mr. R. Kaman, learned counsel for the petitioners; Ms. P. Sarma, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the respondent Nos. 1 and 2; Mr. R. Chakraborty, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the respondent No. 9; and Mr. B. Gogoi, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the respondent No. 3. I have also heard Ms. S. Sarma, learned counsel appearing for the Assistant Commissioner, Kamrup(M), Assam and Mrs. R.S. Choudhury, learned counsel appointed by this Court as Amicus Curiae.

2. In the instant writ petition, the question that arises for consideration is as to whether in law and on facts the petitioner can be appointed as guardian of the mother of the petitioners who is in ‘persistent vegetative state’ and ‘coma’.

3. The brief facts of the instant case are that the petitioner No. 1 is the son and the petitioner No. 2 is the daughter of Smt. Madhumita Das. The said Madhumita Das herein after referred to as the mother of the petitioners was living in Naharlagun in Arunachal Pradesh and was found in an unconscious state in the morning of 18.12.2020. She was thereupon brought to Guwahati for treatment and was initially admitted to the Apollo Hospitals, Guwahati on 19.12.2020. Thereafter on 20.12.2020, she underwent emergency re-compressive Craneictomy with evacuation of SDH and ICH Surgery. On the basis of the said surgery, a part of the skull of the petitioners’ mother was removed. Post surgery, the mother of the petitioners was in ventilation support and in comatose state and vegetative state. On 13.01.2021 she was discharged from Apollo Hospitals, Guwahati.

4. Upon discharge, the mother of the petitioners was admitted in a Neurorehabilitation Centre named ‘Palon Rewalk’ on 13.01.2021. In the said Centre, she was being provided with care and support for regaining consciousness. Thereafter on 18.02.2021, the mother of the petitioners was discharged from ‘Palon Rewalk’ and on the same day she was admitted to the Downtown Hospitals and underwent surgery to attach the part of the skull that was removed in the surgery on 19.12.2020. On 08.03.2021, the mother of the petitioners was released from Down Town Hospital and since 08.03.2021 till the filing of the writ petition, the mother of the petitioners was at her home at Patharkuchi, Guwahati. It is the case of the petitioners that till the date of filing of the writ petition, the petitioners have already spent an amount of Rs. 22,00,000/-towards the treatment and care for their mother and thereby they have almost emptied all resources to secure finances for the treatment of their mother and at present they are borrowing from their friends and family to meet the expenses for daily treatment of their mother who is in vegetative state. The petitioners have filed an additional affidavit bringing on record the various movable and immovable properties of the mother of the petitioners the details of which are as herein under:

Movable Properties: