( 1 ) THE plaintiffs, respondents 1 to 3 herein, filed the suit being O. S. No. 1059 of 1985 on the file of the Court of IV Additional Judge, City Civil Court, Hyderabad, for partition of plaint schedule properties. The trial Court by judgment and decree dated 11-7-1990 passed a preliminary decree directing that plaint schedule properties shall be divided into 48 equal shares and 1/48th share shall be allotted to each of the plaintiffs, and each of defendants 1 to 4 shall be allotted 9/48th share. The trial Court also restrained defendants 1 to 5 from interfering with peaceful possession of the first plaintiff over item No. 2 of the plaint schedule. Aggrieved by the preliminary decree, the first defendant has filed the present appeal.

( 2 ) FIRST plaintiff is wife of one Narasimha, plaintiffs 2 and 3 are his daughters and defendants 1 to 5 are his sons. In brief it is the case of the plaintiffs (respondents 1 to 3 herein) that Rapolu Narasimha, husband of the first plaintiff and father of other parties to the suit died on 21-1-1977 at Lemur, Maheswaram Taluk, Ranga Reddy District. Item No. 1 of the plaint schedule is ancient house with five rooms with country-tiled