JUDGMENT :

1. The appellants in this Regular Second Appeal filed under Section 100 r/w Order XLII of the Civil Procedure Code, 1908 (hereinafter referred to as ‘CPC’ for short) are the plaintiffs in O.S.No.142/2006 on the files of the Munsiff’s Court, Parappanangadi. They assail the preliminary decree and judgment of partition dated 30.09.2009 passed by the Munsiff Court in the above suit and the decree and judgment in AS No.129/2009 dated 21.10.2017 passed by the Additional District Court, Tirur, confirming the decree and judgment of the trial court. The respondents herein are the defendants in the above suit.

2. Heard the learned counsel appearing for the appellants as well as the learned senior counsel appearing for respondents 1 and 2, who are the defendants in the above suit.

3. I shall refer the parties in this Regular Second Appeal as ‘plaintiffs’ and ‘defendants’ for convenience.

4. At the time of admission, my predecessor, as per order dated 13.07.2022, formulated the following questions of law:-

“1. Whether the 9th plaintiff is entitled to act as the natural guardian of the minor children under Ext.A3 release deed No.35/1966 in view of the provisions of Section 6 of the Hi