The main legal point established in the judgment is the necessity for a judicial inquiry and the importance of following the prescribed procedure under Order XXXII Rule 15 C. P. C. to determine the unsoundness of mind or mental infirmity of a party.

( 1 ) THIS is a petition under Section 115 of the Civil Procedure Code, to revise the order of the learned Subordinate Judge Nellore, on I. A. No. 449 of 1959 in O. S. No, 73 of 1959 on his file. That application was filed under Order 32, Rule 15 of the Code of Civil Procedure to adjudge that the plaintiff is of unsound mind, and as such incapable of protecting his interests, and to appoint his daughter, Pelluru Rangamrna, as his next friend.

( 2 ) THE relevant facts may briefly be stated. O. S. No. 73 of 1959 was filed by one Duvvuri Rami Reddi, Who was described as being of unsound mind, and represented by next friend and daughter, Pelluru Rangamma, for a partition of the properties set out in Schedules A to E into two equal shares, and allotment of one such share to the plaintiff, and for future profits and other reliefs.

( 3 ) IT was alleged in the plaint that the plaintiff and the first defendant are brothers and sons of one Ranga Reridi. The plaintiff has no sons, and has five daughters, viz. , plaintiffs next friend, and defendants 2 to 5. The joint family of the plaintiff and the first defendant owned extensive properties consisting of cultivable wet and dry lands, and also houses, and moveables, etc. The first defendant, though, younger than the plaintiff actively participated in the management of the family properties even during the life time of their father, Ranga Reddi, and in about 1939, he assumed the sole management of the family affairs. The plaintiff was from the beginning a man of weak intellect, mentally defective and utterly incapable of taking part in the management of the family properties, and looking after his own interests, and consequently, the first defendant acquired a position of domination and influence over the plaintiff. The plaintiffs mental condition deteriorated since 1948 and became frequently insane and uncontrollable, requiring his being kept sometimes under control, and was not in a position to understand or form a rational judgment of the effect of any of his acts. The plaintiffs wife, with the help of her son-in-law, Pelluru Ganga Rami Reddy, attempted to have a partition of the plaintiffs share. The first defendant resented the same, and removed the plaintiff, when he was in a state of insanity, to a temporary residence at Nellore on the pretext of treatment for him. The plaintiffs wife, his next friend and her husband, Ganga Rami Reddi on enquiries learnt that the first defendant secured from the plaintiff some document to his advantage, which purported to be a partition-deed between the plaintiff and the first defendant, and that it was also got registered. The first defendant also with the help of his confederates got the plaintiff execute another deed dated 31-12-1952, and got it registered on 2-1-1953, and that that document purported to be a settlement deed by the plaintiff in favour of all his daughters. The plaintiffs wife, on looking into the registration copies of both the documents, discovered that the recitals therein were not true and were vitiated and void.

( 4 ) PLAINTIFFS next friend, Pelluru Rangaroma, filed an affidavit along with the petition I. A. No. 449 of 1959, that her father had been for a long time of unsound mind, and had bean utterly incapable of managing his own estate. She also filed along with her affidavit, the affidavits of two other persons who were personally aware of her fathers infirmity of mind arid corroborating her statement. She, therefore, prayed that she may be permitted to institute the suit as the next friend of her father.

( 5 ) THE said application was resisted by the first respondent (first defendant) who contended, inter alia, that the next friend is a divorced wife of one Ganga Rami Reddi, who after divorcing her married her sister, the fourth defendant, that the next friend in collision with Ganga Rami Reddi got the suit filed with a view to cause trouble to the defendant and to benefit themselves, on account of enmity