JUDGMENT : This is an appeal instituted by the respondent in the court below in an application by a father (Sri E.H.B. David) for the restoration to custody of his little daughter, now aged nearly 4 years, under S. 25 of the Guardians and Wards Act. The application was allowed by the learned Additional District Judge of Coimbatore on the merits, and the respondent below, who is the mother-in-law of the petitioner in the lower court and the grandmother of the child, now appeals.

2. At the outset itself I think it is important to stress the principles upon which the court should approach a matter of this kind. It has been repeatedly laid down, that, in such proceedings, the welfare of the minor should be the predominating interest. The law no doubt permits a person to have the custody of his minor child, and the right in law is really one which flows from certain universal feelings in nature, and the common organisation of society all the world over. But that right is not an absolute right. It is subject to the overriding power of the Court, which may interfere in the interests of the infant.

But, while enunciating this, it is equally important to emphasize that the court will