Alfred Henry Lionel Leach, C.J.

1. The appellant instituted this suit in the Court of the Subordinate Judge of Devakottai for a declaration that the decree passed in O.S. No. 88 of 1933 by the Subordinate Judge of Coimbatore is void and therefore not binding on him. When that suit was tried the appellant was a minor and his adoptive mother acted as his guardian-ad-litem at all times material to the present suit. The suit resulted in a decree being passed against him for the payment of the sum of Rs. 31,497-10-6. It had been filed to recover money deposited with a firm belonging to the family in which the appellant was born. Before the suit was instituted he was given in adoption to another family and therefore was not responsible for the liabilities of his fathers family. In the present suit the appellant averred that his guardian-ad-litem had been guilty of gross negligence in that he had not pleaded a partition and in not. proving his adoption. At the hearing the Official Assignee, who is the seventh defendant, raised the contention that the suit was not maintainable unless the plaintiff could show fraud or collusion, although this plea was not raised in his written statem