Rajamannar, C.J.- The plaintiffs in O.S. No. 50 of 1953 in the Court of the Subordinate Judge of Madurai are the appellants before us. They are the sons of the second defendant. They filed the suit for a declaration that the properties set out in the schedule to the plaint which according to them were properties belonging to the joint family consisting of them and their father are not liable to be proceeded against for the realisation of the income-tax assessed on their father the second defendant for the assessment years 1945-46, 1946-47 and 1947-48 in so far as it related to their interest in the suit properties. They alleged in the plaint inter alia that the family of the plaintiffs and the second defendant was carrying on an ancestral business in textiles, that the second defendant started and conducted several new businesses which were speculative in character, including the import and export in several commodities, infringing the control orders in force at the time, and that he never bestowed any control over the affairs of the business nor maintained proper accounts. The plaintiffs submitted that the levy of assessment could not in law affect their interest in the joint fami

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