Defendants 7 to 10, who are the legal representatives of the deceased 6th defendant in O.S.No.4963 of 1982 on the file of the V Assistant Judge, City Civil Court, Chennai, are the appellants.

2. The parties are referred to as per their ranking in the original suit.

3. One Munusamy Chetty had four sons, viz. Adiseshaiah Chetty (first defendant), Tandavakrishnan (deceased), Narayanasamy (fifth defendant), whose legal representative is the 11th defendant/sixth respondent, and Chinnasamy (sixth defendant), whose legal representatives are defendants 7 to 10/appellants. The first defendant Adiseshaiah Chetty had two wives. While the plaintiff and the second defendant are the sons of Adiseshaiah through his first wife, the defendants 3 and 4 are his sons through his second wife.

4. The suit property originally belonged to Munusamy Chetty and the same was inherited by his sons on his death on 3.9.1937 and therefore, the suit property is the ancestral joint family property. The plaintiff and the defendants are the members of un-divided Hindu joint family and they are the co-parceners. On 9.9.1940, Tandavakrishna, who had 1/4th share in the suit property, relinquished his share fo