Judgment

FAZL ALI J. : This appeal arises out of a suit for partition which was dismissed by the trial Court but was decreed by the High Court of Patna on appeal. The material facts of the case are briefly as follows:

2. One Rambilas Das had 2 sons, Budparkash Das and Nandkishore Das. Nandkishore Das had several sons, the plaintiff, Gurtahl Das being one of his illegitimate sons. The present suit was brought by Gurtahl Das against 4 persons, namely, Gurnarayan Das and Jai Narayan, Das, sons of Nandkishore Das; Shibtah Das, who was alleged to be one of the illegitimate sons of Nandkishore Das; and Mst. Rambholi Kuer, wife of Nandkishore Das. Another person, Kuldip Das, who was the daughter s son of Nandkishore s brother Budparkash Das, intervened in the suit after its institution and was impleaded as the fifth defendant. After the death of the second defendant, Jai Narayan Das, his wife, Surat Kuer, was brought on record.

3. The plaintiff s case was that Budparkash Das and Nandkishore Das formed a joint Hindu family, and that Budparkash Das died without any male issue in a state of jointness with his brother, Nandkishore, with the result that the entire joint family property devolved o