JUDGMENT

S.B. Majumdar, J.-This appeal, on grant of special leave, is moved by Defendant Nos. 1-4 in Original Suit No. 341 of 1968 in the Court of the Subordinate Judge of Madurai in the State of Tamil Nadu. The said suit was filed by Respondent Nos. 2 and 3 herein as plaintiffs against number of other defendants with which we are not concerned in this appeal. The said suit was filed for partition and separate possession of the plaintiffs undivided share in the suit properties scheduled A , B and C . It was contended that the plaintiffs and the 7th defendant were the sons of one Sivasankaran Pillai through his second wife, while the Defendant Nos. 1, 5 and 6 were the sons of the said Sivasankaran Pillai through his first wife. The 8th defendant was the second wife of Sivasankaran Pillai. Sivasankaran Pillai died on 27th January, 1956. According to the plaintiffs, the suit properties were the ancestral properties of the said Sivasankaran Pillai who inherited the same. That the said properties remained as joint family properties and the plaintiff and Defendant Nos. 1, 5 and 6 were continuing as undivided members of the joint family even after the death of Sivasankaran Pillai.

2. Th