Guardian & Wards Act, 1890–Sec. 7–Family Courts Act, 1984–Sec. 7(g)–Petition for declaration as guardian–Respondent did not file the written statement to oppose the petition–She did not file the reply of two applications under Order 6, Rule 17–App-lications were never decided by the Family Court–She filed the application u/s. 151 of C.P.C. for being appointed as sole and absolute guardian and custodian of the child –Meanwhile, the counsel of appellant was discharged and Family Court passed the order without serving the notice to the appellant–Respondent was transposed as petitioner and appellant were transposed as the respondent in the proceedings without any formal notice–Family Court proceeded on the assumption that the appellant abandoned the proceedings–Whether proper?–Held, no–Court could have dismissed the petition by exercising the powers of Order 9, Rule 8 but it could not have entertained the trans-position application ex-parte–Orders were passed in a tearing hurry, maybe because of the insistence of the respondent and her counsel to do so in light of the observation made by the High Court in habeas corpus and contempt matters against the appellant–Imp-ugned judgment set aside and matter remanded back for deciding the petition afresh.
