The main legal point established in the judgment is that the ordinary residence of the minor determines the jurisdiction of the court under Section 9(1) of the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890.

( 1 ) THE appellants herein being aggrieved by the order dated 6-9-2003 passed in G and WC No. 61 of 2003 on the file of the II Additional Principal Judge, Family court at Bangalore, for short, 'the Family court' have preferred this appeal under Section 47 of the GUARDIANS AND WARDS ACT, 1890, 1890, for short, 'the Act'.

( 2 ) THE Family Court by the impugned order has returned the petition filed by the appellants herein under Sections 7, 10 and 26 of the Act for presentation of the same before the jurisdictional Court in the State of Tamilnadu having opined that it has no jurisdiction to entertain that petition.

( 3 ) THE case of the appellants, in brief, is as follows : the first and second appellants are a couple of Indian Nationality and Domicile. The appellants 1 and 2 are aged about 33 and 32 years respectively. The first appellant was born on 16-2-1970 and second appellant on 15-1 -1971. The first appellant and the second appellant were married on 4-1-1996. The first appellant is employed as a Consultant at Orchard Advertising Pvt. Ltd. , Bangalore and his monthly salary from the said profession at. present is Rs. 52,500/ -. The second appellant is a housewife and looks after the family house. The first and second appellants live in a rented house in bangalore, The first appellant owns about 15. 22 acres of ancestral property in Kerala. In addition, the appellants 1 and 2 have other movable properties like jewellery, LIC policies, T. V. Sets, Bank accounts, household and personal effects. Although the first and second appellants were married in the year 1996, are not blessed with a child of their own. The first appellant suffers from infertility. In spite of various medical treatment, that defect of the. first appellant could not be rectified. Since the first and second appellants could not have a child of their own, they decided to seek guardianship of minors as an alternative to have a family with children. The relatives of appellants 1 and 2 and their friends and well-wishers have agreed to their idea and they have come forward to support the guardianship proposal of the appellants 1 and 2. The first and second appellants are physically fit and healthy and show no symptoms of either physical or mental disease or physical incapacity affecting their fitness to have custody of and to educate the children taken under guardianship. The appellants 1 and 2 have a respectable family background and clean social and police records.

( 4 ) THE minor Aadya Teresa previously known as Pavithra is a female child and said to have born on 27-2-2002 from out of the wedlock of her natural biological parents. The parents of the minor were not in a position to look after and bring up the minor and, therefore, they out of their freewill handed over the minor to the Government health Team, Dharmapuri, in Tamilnadu state and left the place leaving no clue of their whereabouts. When the biological parents of minor handed over the minor to the government Health Team, they expressed their inability to look after and bring up the minor due to their poverty and requested the Government health team to look after and to bring up the minor or to place her with a suitable couple in India or abroad, who are willing to give her a good home and secure her welfare and future prospects.

( 5 ) THE Institution of Anantha Ashram trust, H. C. F. , post Mathigir situate in Hosur in the State of Tamilnadu, the third appellant in this appeal, is a Trust registered under the Indian Trust Act and processes in country adoption of Indian minor children. Since the Government Health Team to which the custody of the minor was handed over by the biological parents of the minor is not an Adoption Agency, they in turn transferred the custody of the minor to the third appellant-Trust.

( 6 ) THE appellants 1 and 2 desirous of being the guardian of the minor approached the third appellant with necessary records and information. The third appellant having made