Sankaran Govindan v Lakshmi Bharathi

• K, who had practised medicine in England, died in 1950. A partition suit in India sought to divide his estate. In England, an order of the High Court declared that K died domiciled in England; notices in that proceeding were served on Indian minors through their natural guardians, who did not appear, and the English court appointed a court officer as guardian ad litem. The Kerala High Court held the English order was obtained by fraud and against natural justice.

1. Whether the English order operated as res judicata on domicile, and whether serving minors through natural guardians not appointed guardians ad litem violated natural justice.

• The appeal was allowed. Fraud was not established. Natural justice required only that the minors have an opportunity to contest through their natural guardians; when the guardians did not appear, the appointment of a court officer as guardian ad litem satisfied natural justice. Succession to the fund was governed by English law.

The test is substantial compliance with fair play: a minor must have a real opportunity to be represented, not a particular procedural form.