The petitioner appeared in person and submitted his arguments.

2. The prayer in this writ petition is to issue a mandamus striking down Secs.18 to Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 as ultra vires of the Constitution of India hence null and void or giving a ruling that sole surviving co-parceners, who follow that Law have to be maintained notwithstanding absence of such provisions in the aforesaid.

3. Even the prayer as framed in the writ petition cannot be granted by this Court. There question of issuing a mandamus striking down certain sections of a legislation mandamus declaring that certain persons will be entitled to maintenance even in the of a provision in a legislation to that effect.

4. There is another obstacle to the maintainability of this writ petition, which is as follows: this petition the two respondents are the Union of India represented by the Ministry of Law and Justice and the Secretary, Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, Government of India, New Delhi. The petitioner claims to be entitled to maintenance from his mother, he has not chosen to implead her as a party to the writ petition. A writ cannot be the abstract or in the vacuum declaring a