Wife can sell property of husband in comatose condition: Madras High Court

• The Madras High Court has permitted the wife of a person in a comatose condition to sell/mortgage his immovable property.

Highlights:

• The proceeds then can be used for taking care of a patient's medical expenses as well as the maintenance of the family.
• The petitioner had approached the court with a plea to appoint her as the guardian of her husband and consequently permit her to operate his bank accounts and if necessary, to sell/mortgage immovable property owned by him
• However, the single judge ruled that a writ petition could not be entertained for appointment of a guardian especially when the Mental Healthcare Act of 2017 does not contain any provision for dealing with financial aspects.
  • He had asked the petitioner to approach a civil court for such an appointment.
• Disagreeing with the view taken by him, the Bench led by Justice Swaminathan said, in a similar case, the Kerala High Court had invoked its writ jurisdiction and observed, that it was like a parens patriae jurisdiction that could be invoked when no remedy was provided under any statute for patients in comatose state.
• The petitioner’s children, who had attained majority, were also made as parties in her writ appeal before the Bench and they gave their consent for appointing their mother as the guardian.

Prelims Takeaway

• Writ Petition
• Mental Healthcare Act, 2017