M. KARPAGAVINAYAGAM, J.:

1. Since the parties as well as the issues involved in these appeals are one and the same and both the suits were tried jointly and judgment was rendered by the learned single Judge in common, these appeals also are being disposed of in a common judgment.

2. O.S.No.47 of 1998 has been filed by the appellant herein challenging the judgment and decree passed by the learned single Judge in C.S.No.502 of 1983, in which the appellant is the plaintiff and the respondents are the defendants. O.S.A.No.46 of 1998 by the appellant is directed against the judgment and decree passed by the learned single Judge in C.S.No.665 of 1987, in which the appellant is the defendant and the respondents are the plaintiffs.

3. The facts in C.S.No.502 of 1983 (O.S.A.No.47 of 1998) are as follows:

(a) The case of the plaintiff is this: The appellant/plaintiff was adopted by Mr.Ramarathinam and his wife Lalitha in the year 1959 when he was one year old. However, the adoptive parents had given birth to one daughter in 1964, the second defendant and one son in 1966, the first defendant. The adoptive mother of the appellant/plaintiff died in the year 1981 and the adoptive fathe