Isn't the character array variable name a pointer to array in C ?

Question

Why there is an error while running this code : "function returns address of local variable".
Wasn't ch (See the code) a pointer to the character array, and hence we are returning the starting address of the array.
Can anyone help me out :

CODE :

#include<stdio.h>

char * function()
{
char ch[10] = "Thanks";
return ch ;
}

int main()
{
char * point = function();
printf("%s",point);

return 0 ;
}

Answer 1

cool_boy12344
https://code.sololearn.com/cc34u12rHYtk/?ref=app

Answer 2

~ swim ~

If the array in the function gets erased after the function returns to the main(). Then even if i store the address of the first element (ch[0]) in a character pointer ie. "char * ptr" and return ptr, it should also point to garbage but the program runs fine.

Any explanations ?