Delhi High Court Holds Father Cannot Use Daughter's PPF Account for Maintenance Payments

The Delhi High Court recently held that a father cannot use the amount invested for his daughter’s education towards fulfilling his individual legal obligations of paying maintenance to his daughter and estranged wife [Sudhir Kawatra Vs Shamli Kawatra].In the judgment delivered on August 3, Justice Neena Bansal Krishna stated that the daughter is entitled to receive the investment amount made in her name and the father, who opened the investment account, can only hold it as a guardian. The Court observed that the father cannot use this investment amount towards meeting his legal obligations of paying maintenance.“Being the investment in the name of the child, she was entitled to receive the amount. The father may have taken the money to which the Plaintiff was entitled, but it was only in the fiduciary capacity, as a Guardian, but cannot be utilized by the father to off-set his responsibility of maintenance, towards the child,” the Court said.Justice Neena Bansal KrishnaSudhir Kawatra had opened a PPF account in the year 1999 for his daughter Shamli Kawatra. Shamli alleged that when she approached the bank on maturity of the PPF in 2017, she was informed that her father had withdrawn the entire corpus of over ₹8 lakh in 2016 and closed the account. She alleged that as per the father’s undertaking given to the bank, he had withdrawn the amount for the purpose of his daughter’s education and well-being.The daughter filed a suit seeking recovery of the amount. The district cour