AR. LAKSHMANAN, J.

1. Defendants 1 and 6 are the appellants in this appeal. The 1st respondent/plaintiff filed O.S. No.

170 of 1980 on the file of the Subordinate Judge, Thiruppathur, for directing division of the suit properties, put him in separate possession of his 1/7th share and for other allied reliefs. The 1st appellant is the 1st defendant in the suit. The 2nd appellant is one of the sons of the 1st defendant through one Peruma Ammal. The 1st respondent/plaintiff is the son of one Pappammal. The 2nd respondent/2nd defendant is the son of the 1st defendant through his first wife Mari. Respondents 3 to 5/Defendants 3 to 5 are the sons of the 1st defendant through his third wife Peruma Ammal.

2. The case of the plaintiff in short is as follows:— The 1st defendant is his father. On the death of Mari, his first wife, in or about 1941, the 1st defendant married one Pappammal, who is the mother of the plaintiff, in or about 1942 according to Hindu Law, custom and rites at Perumapattu village. The plaintiff is the son of the 1st defendant and the said Pappammal. During the pendency of the said marriage, the 1st defendant married another lady by name Peruma Ammal, whose ch