VENKATASWAMI, J. ( 1 ) THIS appeal under S. 83 of the Lunacy Act, 1912, arises from an order of dismissal of an application preferred under S. 62 of that Act, made by the Dist Judge at Tumkur in Misc. Case 3 of 1972. ( 2 ) THE application concerns the alleged idiocy or unsoundness of mind of one Koterayaswamy. The father of the said person is the applicant and the respondent is his maternal grandfather. It would appear that the alleged lunatic's mother, Adavemma died about 14 months before the date of the application. Even since his birth he and his mother had been forced to live with the respondent. There has also been litigation between the alleged lunatic and his father which had concluded with the passing of a decroe directing partition of the properties of the joint family of which they had both been members. Even since the death of the alleged lunatic's mother, he had not been cared for, or looked alter properly, although he was possessed of property. Hence the petition for an order for the appointment of the applicant as the manager of the estate of the alleged lunatic the petition has been resisted by the maternal grandfather, who, it maybe stated, had settled some property on his grandson, absolutely, and in substance, it is the management of that property that is concerned in these proceedings. We sav so because the applicant has not chosen to ask for any order regarding the custody of the alleged lunatic specifically while seeking relief regarding the management of the property. ( 3 ) THE learned Dist Judge after notifying the parties and causing the production in person of the alleged lunatic for a preliminary examination pursuant to the provisions of Ss. 40 and 41 of the Lunacy Act, concluded that in connection with the alleged lunatic, no order of any kind contemplated under Ss. 65 and 67 of that Act was called for. He also concluded that the application had not been made in good faith. He, therefore, dismissed the application. Hence this appeal. ( 4 ) ON behalf of the appellant, it is contended thus:-The Court should have held an enquiry and afforded an opportunity to the applicant to adduce evidence in the case in support of the allegation of lunacy of his son. He, therefore, dismissed the application. Hence this appeal. ( 4 ) ON behalf of the appellant, it is contended thus:-The Court should have held an enquiry and afforded an opportunity to the applicant to adduce evidence in the case in support of the allegation of lunacy of his son. Further, it is a clear case of an erroneous exercise of jurisdiction by the Court below in that if had failed to consider certain documentary evidence produced with a memo, which would tend to show that the respondent grandfather himself had treated and referred to the person in question as mentally retarded. ( 5 ) BEFORE prqceeding to consider the matter further, it may be convenient to clear the ground regarding the law governing the matter. This is best done by a reference to certain enunciations in the decisions relied on at the Bar. ( 6 ) IN Joshi Ram Krishan v. Rukmmi Bai AIR. 1949 All. 449. , the High Court at allahabad has referred to the enunciation of the Lahore High Court in the case mentioned hereunder, as laying down the law correctly in such matters as the one on hand. The passage reads thus in Teka Devi v Gopal Das (AIR 1930 Lah 209) it was observed that It is, therefore, the duty of the Court before proceeding further, to determine judicially whether the person alleged to be incapable of managing himself or his affairs, is really a 'lunatic in this sense secondly, 11 must be remembered that this finding has got very farreaching consequence and must be given after very great care and deliberation. It may have the immediate effect of putting a human being under restraint. It might deprive him for a time, or for ever of the possession and management of his property. It will be prima facie evidence of his 'lunacy', and, may be read in proqf of it in qther proceedings. The Legislature has, therefore, laid down an elaborate procedure for conducting an enquiry into this matter, and this procedure must be strictly followed. The Court cannot and ought not to deal lightheartedly with this important question, and it should not consider itself relieved of its responsibility by the mere circumstance that some or all the relatives of the person concerned have declared that he is lunatic. The Court cannot and ought not to deal lightheartedly with this important question, and it should not consider itself relieved of its responsibility by the mere circumstance that some or all the relatives of the person concerned have declared that he is lunatic. The above is undoubtedly an accurate statement of the policy underlying the precaution enjoined by the Legislature in the various provisions of the Act as a preliminary condition to the final exercise of jurisdiction by the Court in declaring a person as a lunatic, and i am inclined to consider the present case in the light of the principle so enunciated. ( 7 ) IN Vemasani Narasamma v. Vemasani Rama Naidu AIR. 1951 Mad. 648. Govinda menon, J. has, in referring to the dicta of Rankin, CJ. observed thus : reliance is placed upon the dicta of Rankin CJ in Seraj Basinl debi v. Morendranath (54 Cal 836: AIR 1927 Cal 636), where that learned Judge was of opinion that where an application is made for directing an inquisition for the purpose of ascertaining whether a person is of unsound mind and incapable of managing his own affairs, the first thing which has to be done is that the learned Judge, either with notice to the lunatic or without notice, should carefully consider whether the case is one which calls for an order directing an inquisition in the words of the learned Judge, an order directing an inquisition into a man's state of mind is a very serious thing, and such an rrder is intended by the Statute to be a judicial determination carefully made upon adequate materials If the Judge considers that it calls for an order directing an inquisition, then it is in his obvious duty to record an order directing an inquisition. When once that is done, then the petition is a spent petition, which has served its primary purpose. The Judge should then, by the combined operation of S 64 read with Ss. 40, 4t and 42, Lunacy Act, take certain steps with regard to notice and such notice should be given as provided by S 40 of the Act. Thereafter he chould hold the inquisition either by himself or with the aid of assessors. The Judge should then, by the combined operation of S 64 read with Ss. 40, 4t and 42, Lunacy Act, take certain steps with regard to notice and such notice should be given as provided by S 40 of the Act. Thereafter he chould hold the inquisition either by himself or with the aid of assessors. Then again it is observed thus : it seems to me that haying regard to the course which the petition took and haying regard to the previous history of the fight between the appellant and the respondents which had gone through the gamut of a Sub Court suit as well as an appeal in the High Court, the learned Judge need not have gone into the elaborate procedure to find qut whether prima facie it was proved that this Chinna Rama naidu was a lunatic or not. ( 8 ) IN Ranjit Kumar v. Secy. , IPC Society AIR, 1963 Cal. 261, a Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court has referred with approval to an enunciation of the High Court at Lahore, as laying down certain norms of procedure to be followed by a Court in proceedings under the Lunacy Act. We need dc no more than reproduce the said enunciation occurring in paras 25 and 26 of the aforementioned report. It reads thus : we can only end this sorry and miserable procedural illegality of the grossest kind by quoting the Divn Bench observations of the allahabad High Court in Mohanlal Yaqub v. Nazir Ahmed (1920 All. 30 at p. 81: an inquiry of that sort once started must be prosecuted to the bitter end and has all the attributes of an ordinary trial on an issue of fact, and therefore when a person is alleged to be insane, before his or her family are cast into an elaborate proceeding of that sort, there ought to be a careful and thorough preliminary inquiry and the Judge ought to satisfy himself that there is a real ground for an inquisition. It is impossible to lay down any hard and fast rule, but in the first place it is essential that the person making the application should support it ordinarily by affidavit or by tendering himself for examination to the Judge on oath in support of the allegations in hiss application. It is impossible to lay down any hard and fast rule, but in the first place it is essential that the person making the application should support it ordinarily by affidavit or by tendering himself for examination to the Judge on oath in support of the allegations in hiss application. The learned Judge would naturally want to know what relationship existed, what previous association had existed between the appellant and the alleged insane person, how long the illness was supposed to have lasted, why no previous steps had been taken and what were the present symptoms and actual cause which had induced the applicant to moke the application as and when he did. " (26) Again at p. 81 the learned Judge, in that case observed : in many cases, and we think that this case is probably one, it would be very desirable that the Judge should seek some personal interview with the alleged insane not with a view to forming a final cpinion as to her real condition, but to satisfy himself in the ordinary way, in which a layman can do, that there is a real ground for supposing that there is something abnormal in her mental condition which might bring her within the Lunacy Act". ( 9 ) IN Sarjug Singh v. Guldbo Kuer AIR. 1969 Pat. 83. , a learned single Judge of the patna High Court after a review of many decisions bearing on the point, has summarised the principles enunciated therein in para, 17 of the said report. It is sufficient to refer to one of them only and it reads : unsoundness of mind implies some unusual feature of the mindas has tended to make it different from the normal and has in effect impaired the man's capacity to look after his affairs in a manner in which another person without such mental irregularity would be able to do in the matter of his own. The idea suggests some derangement of the mind, whatever be its degree, and it is not to be confused with or taken as analogous to a mere mental weakness or lack of intelligence. A man may find it difficult to answer questions of particular class but if he intelligently answers questions of various other sorts concerning himself, his faniily and property, he cannot be classed with men of unsound mind being unable to manage their affairs. A man may find it difficult to answer questions of particular class but if he intelligently answers questions of various other sorts concerning himself, his faniily and property, he cannot be classed with men of unsound mind being unable to manage their affairs. If a man is able to understand and answers questions on various matters except those relying to arithmetical calculations, he cannot be regarded as mentally unsound, although he would be held as having a weak or undeveloped mind. ( 10 ) VIEWED in the light of the above mentioned principles, we are clearly of the view that the contentions of the appellant ought not to prevail. The learned Dist Judge, before proceeding to hold an inquisition has had an opportunity to see the alleged lunatic and examine him as he thought fit in the circumstances. This clearly he was entitled to do in law before proceeding to, hold the inquisition proper. It is only on availing himself of such an opportunity, he has opined thus : i had the privilege of observing the demeanour of this person Koterayaswamy. He is normal. He appears to understand normal. things of life. He appears to be not an educated person, but he is a worker attending to the field work and the domestic affairs. He, even states that a marriage has been proposed to him and betrothal had taken place. I had put those questions to him by taking him unawares whether he understands different subjects put at different contexts. He understands every question that was put to him. I am satisfied that he is neither a lunatic nor a, born idiot. ( 11 ) SO long as the procedure followed by the Court below cannot be seriously found fault with, we do not think it either proper or appropriate to interfere with the above said conclusion of the learned Dist Judge. If, after such an examination, the Court considers it unnecessary to proceed further in the, matter of inquisition, such a, course, in our opinion, was perfectly open to it having legard to the combined effect of Ss. 41 and 62 of the Lunacy Act. It also seems to us that the, power to hold an inquisition under S. 62 is discretionary, the nature of such exercise of discretion being judicial. 41 and 62 of the Lunacy Act. It also seems to us that the, power to hold an inquisition under S. 62 is discretionary, the nature of such exercise of discretion being judicial. In the facts and circumstances of this case, we are satisfied that the learned Dist Judge has neither ignored any relevant principle nor applied any principle which is irrelevant, in coming to the conclusion as aforesaid. ( 12 ) BUT it is argued that the material documentary evidence placed before the Court had not been considered at all. It is true that, on the day the matter was considered by the Court below, two certified copies of documents containing certain statements of the, maternal grandfather of the alleged lunatic, had been made available. As can be seen from the enunciations reproduced earlier, such statements of near relatives is not conclusive of the matter. Hence we do not find any merit in either of the contentions of the appellant. ( 13 ) THE result is that the appeal deserves to fail, and is accordingly dismissed. No costs. --- *** --- .