1. The first defendant in O.S. Nos. 72 and 71 of 1977, District Munsifs Court, Tenkasi, is the appellant in these appeals. The first respondent/s in these Second Appeals, who are brothers, instituted the suits, O.S. 72 and 71 of 1977 praying for a declaration of their right to be in possession of an extent of one acre and one cent and one acre and 84 cents respectively and for an injunction restraining the appellant in these Second Appeals from dispossessing him from those properties. According to the case of the first respondent/s in these Second Appeals, the properties belonged to one Sivaramakrishna Iyer. Petchimuthu Pandia Thevan, the 9th respondent in these appeals, was cultivating the suit properties as a cultivating tenant, having taken them on lease from Sivaramakrishna Iyer. Sivaramakrishna Iyer executed a settlement deed on 24.2.1943 in favour of his third daughter, Avudai Thangammal, conferring a life interest on her and providing for further devolution of the properties in accordance with the terms thereunder. Avudai Thangammal died on 7.7.1965. Thereafter, disputes arose between the appellant in these Second Appeals and respondents 2 to 9 herein. The appella