The plaintiff is the first son while the second defendant is the second son of one M. Venkatesam Chettiar, who died on 17th June, 1965. The said Venkatesam Chettiar, in 1937 or 1940, started a business under the name and style of Doraikannu and Company with a small capital coming out of his own earnings. Out of the income from the said business, the said Venkatesam Chettiar, purchased a large number of items of properties. The plaintiff herein instituted C. S. No. 399 of 1954, on the file of this Court impleading his father as 1st defendant, the 2nd defendant herein as the 2nd defendant and the 1st defendant herein (mother of the plaintiff and the 2nd defendant) as the 3rd defendant, for partition of certain properties. In that suit, he prayed that an account may be taken of what the joint properties of the said family were, that an account may be taken of the profits of the business referred to above and also prayed for partition of his one-third share in the said properties. In that suit the deceased Venkatesam Chettiar, contended that the business was his own business and the properties acquired out of the income from the said business constituted his self-acquisition