The Chief Justice.-This application raises a question of some importance as regards the right of the respondent in an appeal to prefer objections to the decree of the lower court without preferring a separate appeal. The application has been made in A. S. No. 153 of 1947 on the file of this Court which was an appeal preferred by defendants 1 to 3 in O. S. No. 54 of 1945 in the Court of the Subordinate Judge of Guntur against a preliminary decree for partition passed in favour of the plaintiffs who are respondents 1 and 2 in the appeal. Besides the plaintiffs only the fourth defendant has been made a respondent in the appeal. In the Court below there were six defendants and the plaintiffs are the sons of one Venkatasubbayya and the first defendant is his brother. Defendants 2 and 3 are the minor sons of the first defendant. Defendants 4 and 5 are the sisters of the first defendant. The 6th defendant is his father-in-law. The fifth and sixth defendants were made parties to the suit, because it was alleged by the plaintiffs that they were in possession of properties belonging to the joint family consisting of them and defendants 1 to 3. This application is concerned with the fifth def

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