1. The appellant is the 1st defendant in a suit for redemption. The plaintiff instituted the suit as a junior member for and on behalf of his tarwad since the karnavan who is impleaded as the 2nd defendant failed to redeem the mortgage notwithstanding the alienation effected by the mortgagee in favour of the Ist defendant.

2. The mortgage (Ext. Al) was executed by Padmanabha Pillai Kesava Pillai on 27-9-1113 M. E. (1944) in favour of Kesavan Nambudiri in respect of 17 cents of paddy land for a total consideration of Rs. 100/-. Nambudiri assigned the mortgage right in favour of the Ist defendant.

3. The plaintiff's suit is resisted by the 1st defendant only, the 2nd defendant having remained ex parte throughout. It is contended on behalf of the 1st defendant that the plaintiff was not competent to institute the suit. In support of that contention, various points were urged. It was pointed out that the suit property did not belong to the family, but it was the separate property of Kesava Pillai who executed Ext. Al It was further pointed out that the family had been disrupted long before Ext. Al under Ext. Al partition of 1116 and the suit on behalf of the family was theref