Now Reading: Delhi HC: Father can’t use daughter’s PPF money for maintenance
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Delhi HC: Father can’t use daughter’s PPF money for maintenance
The Delhi High Court ruled on August 3 that a father cannot use money from his daughter's Public Provident Fund (PPF) account to pay maintenance to his estranged wife and child. Justice…
The Story in Brief
The Delhi High Court ruled on August 3 that a father cannot use money from his daughter's Public Provident Fund (PPF) account to pay maintenance to his estranged wife and child. Justice Neena Bansal Krishna held that the daughter, not the father, is entitled to the amount, which the father held only as a guardian. The court observed that maintenance is a separate legal obligation that cannot be offset against the child's own investments.
The case involves Sudhir Kawatra, who opened a PPF account for his daughter Shamli in 1999. When the account matured in 2017, Shamli found her father had withdrawn the entire corpus of over ₹8 lakh in 2016. She sought recovery, and the district court ordered the father to return the full amount plus 8% interest. The father appealed, arguing the money went toward his maintenance obligations, but the High Court upheld the lower court's order, noting that the father's marital discord cannot justify using the child's funds for his legal duties.
The Indian Opinion
Custodians of children's accounts often blur the line between guardianship and ownership. Courts are right to declare that funds placed in a minor's name remain the child's property, not a parental slush fund. The father's claim that this PPF corpus discharged his maintenance duty conveniently ignores that the child's right to her own savings is distinct from his legal obligation to support her. The real test will come when thousands of similar family disputes reach the tribunals: will every such account be scrutinised, or only when a child is brave enough to sue her own parent?
Source: barandbench.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
