The Guardians and Wards Act, 1890 (Act No. 8 of 1890) consolidates and amends the law relating to guardians and wards in India. It governs the appointment and declaration of guardians of the person and property of minors, their duties, rights and liabilities, and the termination of guardianship, and remains the general law of guardianship applicable to all communities, operating alongside personal-law statutes such as the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956.
CHAPTER I — PRELIMINARY
- Section 1 — Title, extent and commencement
- Section 2 — [Repealed]
- Section 3 — Saving of jurisdiction of Courts of Wards and Chartered High Courts
- Section 4 — Definitions
- Section 4A — Power to confer jurisdiction on subordinate judicial officers and to transfer proceedings to such officers
CHAPTER II — APPOINTMENT AND DECLARATION OF GUARDIANS
- Section 5 — [Omitted]
- Section 6 — Saving of power to appoint in other cases
- Section 7 — Power of the Court to make order as to guardianship
- Section 8 — Persons entitled to apply for order
- Section 9 — Court having jurisdiction to entertain application
- Section 10 — Form of application
- Section 11 — Procedure on admission of application
- Section 12 — Power to make interlocutory order for production of minor and interim protection of person and property
- Section 13 — Hearing of evidence before making of order
- Section 14 — Simultaneous proceedings in different Courts
- Section 15 — Appointment or declaration of several guardians
- Section 16 — Appointment or declaration of guardian for property beyond jurisdiction of the Court
- Section 17 — Matters to be considered by the Court in appointing guardian
- Section 18 — Appointment or declaration of Collector in virtue of office
- Section 19 — Guardian not to be appointed by the Court in certain cases
CHAPTER III — DUTIES, RIGHTS AND LIABILITIES OF GUARDIANS
General
- Section 20 — Fiduciary relation of guardian to ward
- Section 21 — Capacity of minors to act as guardians
- Section 22 — Remuneration of guardian
- Section 23 — Control of Collector as guardian
Guardian of the person
- Section 24 — Duties of guardian of the person
- Section 25 — Title of guardian to custody of ward
- Section 26 — Removal of ward from jurisdiction
Guardian of property
- Section 27 — Duties of guardian of property
- Section 28 — Powers of testamentary guardian
- Section 29 — Limitation of powers of guardian of property appointed or declared by the Court
- Section 30 — Voidability of transfers made in contravention of section 28 or section 29
- Section 31 — Practice with respect to permitting transfers under section 29
- Section 32 — Variation of powers of guardian of property appointed or declared by the Court
- Section 33 — Right of guardian so appointed or declared to apply to the Court for opinion in management of property of ward
- Section 34 — Obligations on guardian of property appointed or declared by the Court
- Section 34A — Power to award remuneration for auditing accounts
- Section 35 — Suit against guardian where administration bond was taken
- Section 36 — Suit against guardian where administration bond was not taken
- Section 37 — General liability of guardian as trustee
Termination of guardianship
- Section 38 — Right of survivorship among joint guardians
- Section 39 — Removal of guardian
- Section 40 — Discharge of guardian
- Section 41 — Cessation of authority of guardian
- Section 42 — Appointment of successor to guardian dead, discharged or removed
CHAPTER IV — SUPPLEMENTAL PROVISIONS
- Section 43 — Orders for regulating conduct or proceedings of guardians, and enforcement of those orders
- Section 44 — Penalty for removal of ward from jurisdiction
- Section 45 — Penalty for contumacy
- Section 46 — Reports by Collectors and subordinate Courts
- Section 47 — Orders appealable
- Section 48 — Finality of other orders
- Section 49 — Costs
- Section 50 — Power of High Court to make rules
- Section 51 — Applicability of Act to guardians already appointed by Court
- Section 52 — [Repealed]
- Section 53 — [Repealed]
SCHEDULE
Note: The Guardians and Wards Act, 1890 received assent on 21 March 1890 and came into force on 1 July 1890. It has been amended over the decades — notably by Act 4 of 1926 (which recast the definition of “the Court” and inserted section 4A), Act 17 of 1929 (which inserted section 34A), the Adaptation of Orders 1937 and 1948, Act 3 of 1951 (Part B States adaptation), and Act 30 of 2010 (which substituted clause (b) of section 19 concerning guardianship of a minor whose father or mother is living). Several original provisions — sections 2, 5, 52 and 53, and the Schedule — stand repealed or omitted, chiefly by the Repealing Act, 1938 and the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.
