JUDGMENT
Broomfield, J.
1. These are two references under Section 14 of the Guardians and Wards Act, VIII of 1890.
2. An application has been made by one Laxman Morshet Mapuskar in the District Court of Poona for being declared the guardian of the person of his minor wife Sonabai. An application has also been made in the District Court of Ratnagiri by Valibai, the mother of the said Sonabai, praying that she should be appointed guardian of the person and property of her minor daughter. In accordance with the provisions of Section 14 the District Judges have stayed proceedings and referred the matter to this Court in order that it may be determined in which of the Courts the proceedings with respect to the appointment or declaration of the guardian for the said minor shall be had.
3. Presumably, in deciding whether the proceedings should be had in the District Court of Poona or in the District Court of
Ratnagiri, this Court should be guided by consideration of the question of jurisdiction. The proper Court to deal with the case is the Court which has jurisdiction under the Guardians and Wards Act. It is provided in Section 9 of the Act that if the application is with respect to the guardianship of the person of the minor, it shall be made to the District Court having jurisdiction in the place where the minor ordinarily resides. The first question, therefore, is whether this minor girl Sonabai ordinarily resides in the Poona District or in the
Ratnagiri District. Considerations of convenience, such as have been urged by Mr. Mulgaonkar, would only be relevant in the event of the facts justifying a finding that” the minor ordinarily resides in both districts.
4. We have been referred to several cases but none of them is of much assistance upon this particular point. The only thing which can be said to be at all clear is that residence is a matter of fact and not a matter of presumption. It cannot be presumed that the minor girl ordinarily resides in Poona merely because her husband is residing there.
5. Now the facts are that Sonabai’s parents live in Khed in the Ratnagiri District, and up to the date of her marriage Sonabai lived with her parents in Khed. Her marriage with Laxman Morshet also took place in Khed in June 1929, After the marriage it appears that she went to live with her husband in Poona for one month. She then returned to her parents in Khed and subsequently she stayed with her husband in Poona from October 1929, to February 1930, That is to say, out of the whole of her life she has lived for about four to five months in Poona; all the rest of the time she has been residing in Khed in the Ratnagiri District: That being so, we consider that it should be held that she ordinarily resides in the Ratnagiri District, and we direct, therefore, that the proceedings in this matter shall be had in the District Court of Ratnagiri,
Baker, J.
6. I agree and have nothing to add.