Gujarat High Court: A.S. Supehia, J. allowed a writ petition directing Bank to deposit PPF amount deducted for settlement of liability.
Petitioner was holding a Public Provident Fund (PPF) Account under the Public Provident Fund Scheme, 1968 with the respondent- Bank in the name of Rajnikant Punjalal Shah Hindu Undivided Family (HUF). The petitioner is a partner at Gujarat Steel & Pipes— Partnership Firm and the said firm was also holding a Cash Credit Account with the respondent-Bank.
Advocate appearing for the petitioner submitted that the Government of India vide notification dated 12-12-2019 beingPublic Provident Fund Scheme, 2019 under Section 9 of the Public Provident Fund Act, 1968 has clarified that the amount standing in the PPF Account shall not be liable to any attachment in respect of any debt or liability incurred by the account holder hence, the PPF account is protected against any kind of recovery, debt etc. It was further submitted that the respondent Bank has illegally and without the consent of the petitioner debited the amount of Rs.85,380/- from his PPF Account to Cash Credit Account of his partnership firm which is illegal and de hors the procedure prescribed in law.
Advocate appearing for the respondent Bank submitted that the action of the respondent was justified and hence, no orders may be passed.
The Court noted that the respondent Bank had withdrawn/debited the aforesaid amount of Rs.85,380/- from the PPF Account of the petitioner and stated that it is well settled proposition of law that the amount of Public Provident Fund account shall not be liable to any attachment in respect of any debt or liability incurred by the account holder. Thus, it was held that the action of the respondent Bank of withdrawing/debiting the aforesaid amount from the PPF Account of the petitioner was illegal and unjustified.
The petition was allowed, and respondent Bank was directed to deposit the amount of Rs.85,380/- within a period of four weeks in the Savings Bank Account in the name of Rajnikant Punjalal Shah HUF.
[Rajnikant Punjalal Shah v. Manager, 2022 SCC OnLine Guj 772, decided on 23-06-2022]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
Mr. Aditya A Gupta, Mohit A Gupta, Mr. AR Gupta, Ms. Neeta A Pandit, Advocates, for the Petitioner 1;
Ms. Nalini S Lodha, Advocate, for the Respondent 1.
*Suchita Shukla, Editorial Assistant has reported this brief.