1. This appeal is by the plaintiffs in a suit for reopening a prior partition in their tarwad, on grounds of its invalidity and fraud and unfairness otherwise, and for fresh partition The suit was dismissed by the court below in toto and hence this appeal. There is also a cross objection by certain members of the tarwad, forming the group of defendants 6,16,17 and 18.

2. We are concerned in this appeal with only one of the grounds put forward in the court below for invalidating the prior partition arrangement to which all the majors for the time being were parties and evidenced by Ext. M, that is to say, that the 1st plaintiff, who according to the plaintiffs was in fact a major, was dealt with as a minor under Ext. M. The fraud or unfairness which were said to have

characterised Ext. M are, for our purpose, confined to two transactions, viz (i) Ext. M release of a tarwad mortgage by the karanavan to two junior members, and (ii) execution of Ext. AD mortgage of tarwad properties by the karanavan and senior anandravars in favour of strangers. We will take up these one after the other.

3. Taking up first, the aspect of invalidity of Ext. M arising from the personal non-part