Court caseAIR 1937 All 610

Two minors, for whom a guardian had been appointed by the court (so that under the Indian Majority Act as it then stood they remained minors until twenty-one), executed a mortgage deed in favour of the plaintiff. They fraudulently concealed the fact of the guardianship and passed themselves off as of full age. The mortgagee sued for sale of the mortgaged property and, in the alternative, for a money decree.

The Full Bench, speaking through Sulaiman CJ, held that the mortgage was void under Mohori Bibee, that there is no estoppel against a minor who misrepresents his age, and that no decree for the money could be passed. Following Leslie v. Sheill, the Court held that where the money has been spent and is not traceable, ordering the minor to repay it would in substance enforce the void contract. It declined to follow the Lahore Full Bench in Khan Gul v. Lakha Singh on the question of compensation.