In certain land acquisition proceedings Reference was made by the Collector under section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act to the City Civil Court, Madras, for determination of a specific objection, as to the amount of compensation, taken before him by the second respondent Pattabhirama Reddiar, who did not accept the award. The petitioners four in number, did not file objection to the award under section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act, though they had appeared in the land acquisition proceedings at some anterior stage. They claimed in an application filed by them under Order 1, Rule 10, Civil Procedure Code and section 151, Civil Procedure Code before the City Civil Court that the acquired land belonged to an undivided joint Hindu family, that they represented one branch of it while respondents 2 to 6 represented another branch, and that consequently they should be made parties to the Reference under section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act pending before the City Civil Court, Madras. The lower Court found that the petitioners had not proved even on prima facie grounds that they constituted members of a joint family interested in the land in dispute. Secondly, it adopted the