Minor's property sale requires necessity, benefit, and prior court permission; father's attestation alone cannot validate alienation.

Alienation of a minor's immovable property is valid only if the natural guardian acts for necessity or benefit and complies with the statutory requirement of prior court permission. A sale executed by the mother without such permission, and supported only by the father's attestation, could not be treated as a sale by the father as natural guardian. The record showed no reliable proof of legal necessity or benefit to the minors, so the protective scheme for minor property could not be bypassed by form of execution. The transaction was therefore not validated as a lawful alienation by the natural guardian.

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Issues: Whether a sale of a minor's immovable property, executed by the mother without prior permission of the court and merely attested by the father, could be treated as a sale by the natural guardian so as to validate the alienation.

Analysis: Section 8 of the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act empowers the natural guardian to deal with a minor's property only for necessity or benefit and subject to prior permission of the court for alienation of immovable property. The record disclosed no reliable evidence that the sale was for legal necessity or for the benefit of the minors. The father's mere attestation of the deed did not convert a sale executed by the mother into an alienation by the father as natural guardian. The protective scheme of the provision could not be diluted by treating such a transaction as one by the father when he remained alive and was shown to be present in the matter.

Conclusion: The sale was not validated as an act of the natural guardian and, having been made without prior court permission and without proof of necessity or benefit, it could not be upheld on the footing suggested by the appellant. The appeal failed.

Ratio Decidendi: An alienation of a minor's immovable property is valid only when made by the natural guardian for necessity or benefit and in conformity with the statutory requirement of prior court permission; mere attestation by the father does not substitute for such lawful alienation.

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