JUDGMENT

K. RAMASWAMY, J. :—This batch of appeals raises common question of law, though the High Court of Bombay had decided several appeals by separate judgments. On this account they have been tagged together and were referred to three-Judge Bench. We proposed to dispose them of by common judgment. The facts in Civil Appeal No.32/80 are sufficient to decide the question of law. One Bapu Anna Patil (for short B.A. Patil), father of Anna Saheb, the first appellant/Ist plaintiff and Balwant alias Balasaheb, the first defendant, deceased Ist respondent in Special Civil Suit No.79/67 on the file of Civil Judge (Senior Division), Kolhapur, died on October 31, 1956. Balwant was the eldest male member in the joint family consisting of himself and Anna Saheb. Their sister is Laxmibai, 4th defendant. It is now an admitted fact that all other properties, except two items of the agricultural lands bearing R.S. Nos. 359 and 172/8 situated in the village Rukadi of a total extent of 15 acres and 20 gunthas, attached to the Patel watan, were partitioned by metes and bounds. The watan properties attached to the office of Patel, by rule of primogeniture, became impartible. The Maharashtra Revenue