Raj Kishore Prasad, J.

1. On this appeal, by defendants 3 and 4, from a judgment of reversal, of the Subordinate Judge, 1st Court, Patna, giving a declaration that the auction sale of the property of the plaintiff was void, the principal question of law, which has been raised on the part of the appellants, is: Whether, in the eye of law, a minor can be said to be a party to an execution proceeding, when a guardian-ad-litem has been appointed by the execution Court for him, without complying with the provisions of Sub-rule (4) of Rule 3 of Order 32 of "the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908?

2. The facts leading to the present appeal may shortly be stated as follows;

3. An ex parte decree for money was obtained by defendant 1 on the 9th May, 1930, against Balkrishna Das, and others, in a Small Cause Court suit, instituted on the 8th March. 1930, in the Court of Small Causes at Calcutta. This decree was put into execution on the 18th September, 1930. During the pendency of the execution case, Balkrishna Das, one of the judgment-debtors, died on the 20th November, 1930, and, in his place, his son Gopi Krishna Das, the now-plaintiff, who was then a minor, was substituted on the 2nd