IMPORTANT POINT
Where HUF property is sold/disposed of by the Karta involving an undivided interest of the minor in the said property, the provisions of Section 8 of the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956 are not applicable to it inview of express terms of Sections 6 & 12 of said Act.

JUDGMENT

Punchhi, J.-Leave was granted in this appeal to consider the question posed : whether the provisions of Section 8 of The Hindu Minority And Guardianship Act, 1956 (hereafter referred to as the Act) were applicable to the Joint Hindu Family property sold or disposed of by the Karta.

The facts :

2. Dhanu Bal and Param Bal were two brothers constituting a Joint Hindu Family. Dhanu Bal had a wife, Nidhi, an adult son, Jag Bandhu and a few minor sons. Param Bal had a son, Raghu Bal. Raghu Bal had a wife Satyabhama and a few minor sons. Dhanu Bal, Param Bal and Raghu Bal died. Jag Bandhu as Karta of the Joint Hindu Family, joining with him the widows Nidhi for herself and as guardian of her minor sons and Satyabhama for herself and as guardian of her minor sons, executed a sale deed pertaining to certain joint family lands in favour of the first defendant-respondent on 25-3-1971, who made a further sale in favour of the second defendant-respondent. The plaintiffs-appellants who were all members of the Joint Hindu Family filed a suit to have declared the aforesaid sale as illegal and void on the plea that the transaction was vitiated by fraud, mis-representation and taking undue advantage of the illiteracy of Nidhi and Satyabhama, widows. The suit was resisted by the defendants-respondents on the plea that Jagabandhu was literate even though the widows were not, and had executed the sale deed as Karta of the faimly to which to other widow executants had supportively joined him in the execution of the sale deed for themselves and as guardians of the minor members of the Joint Hindu Family. The trial court on assessment of the evidence, decreed the suit, but the lower appellate court rejected the case of the plaintiff-appellants with regard to fraud, undue influence, mis-representation etc. holding that the sale in question was executed by the executants validly and for legal necessity. The second appeal by the plaintiffs-appellants was dismissed in limine, for the High Court was of the view that no substantial question of law arose, requiring determination. Hence this appeal.

3. For the first time in the special leave petition the competence of the Karta of the Hindu Joint Family, effecting sale of the undivided interests of the minors in the Joint Hindu Family property has been questioned in this Court on the anvil of Section 8 of the Act. Therefore the question as framed at the outset has cropped up for consideration.

4. Section 6 of the Act inter alia provides that the natural guardians of a Hindu minor, in respect of the minor s person as well as in respect of the minor s property (excluding his or her undivided interest in joint family property), are-in the case of a boy or an unmarried girl-the father, and after him, the mother; provided that the custody of a minor who has not completed the age of five years shall ordinarily be with the mother. Section 8 thereof inter alia provides that the natural guardian of a Hindu minor has power, subject to the provisions of this Section, to do all acts which are necessary or reasonable and proper for the benefit of the minor or for the realization, protection or benefit of the minor s estate : but the guardian can in no case bind the minor by a personal covenant. Furthermore the natural guardian shall not, without the previous permission of the court, mortgage or charge, or transfer by sale, gift, exchange or otherwise, any part of the immovable property of the minor or lease any part of such property for a term exceeding five years or for a term extending more than one year beyond the date on which the minor will attain majority. Any disposal of immovable property by a natural guardian, in contravention of sub-section (1) or sub-section (2), is voidable at the instance of the minor or any person claiming on behalf of the minor. Section 12 provides that where a minor has an undivided interest in the joint family property and the property is under the management of an adult member of th