P.K. Balasubramanyan, J.

The appellants are the defendants in a suit for partition. The suit for partition was filed by the daughter of a deceased Christian from the Cochin area which was part of the erstwhile State of Cochin. The parties were then governed by the Cochin Christian Succession Act. Before the merger of the States of Cochin and Travancore under a covenant - the erstwhile princely States of Cochin and Travancore merged into the United States of Travancore-Cochin, the persons belonging to the Christian Community of the Travancore region, were governed by the Travancore Christian Succession Act. The Parliament enacted the Part B States (Laws) Act, 1951 extending the Indian Succession Act, 1925 to the State of Travancore-Cochin. An argument was raised that in view of the Part B States (Law) Act, 1951 and the extension of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 to the State in question, the Christians of the State are governed in the matter of inheritance by the Indian Succession Act, and not either by the Cochin Christian Succession Act or by the Travancore Christian Succession Act. The Travancore-Cochin High Court in Kurian Augusthy v. Devassy (AIR 1957 TC 1) held that