13.(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, on and from the date of commencement of this Act, where a District Court records a finding that a mentally ill person is incapable of taking care of himself or herself and of taking any legally binding decisions on his or her own, it shall make an order for appointment of limited guardian to take care of such mentally ill person and take all legal binding decisions on his or her behalf in consultation with such person:

Provided that the District Court may grant plenary guardianship to the mentally ill person under extraordinary situations where limited guardianship could not be awarded.

Explanation – For the purposes of this section:-

(i) “plenary guardianship” means guardianship whereby subsequent to a finding of incapacity, a guardian substitutes for the person with disability as the person before the law and takes all legally binding decisions for him and the decisions of the person with disability have no binding force in law during the subsistence of the guardianship and the guardian is under no legal obligation to consult with the person with disability or determine his or her will or preference whilst taking decisions for him; and

(ii) “limited guardianship” means a system of joint decision which operates on mutual understanding an trust between the guardian and the person with disability.

(2) On and from the date of commencement of this Act, every guardian appointed under any provision of any law for mentally ill persons shall be deemed to function as limited guardian:

Provided that where guardian appointed prior to the commencement of this Act is unable to function as limited guardian, the concerned District Court may grant plenary guardianship afresh taking into account all relevant records of the concerned mentally ill person within six moths from the date of commencement of this Act.

Explanation:- For this purposes of this section “District Court” means, in any area for which there is a city civil court, that court and in any other area the principal civil court of original jurisdiction, and includes any other civil court which the State Government may, by notification, specify as the court competent to deal with all or any of the matters specified in this Act;