This civil miscellaneous second appeal arises out of execution proceedings.

It raises a question about the judgment-debtor's right to claim the protection of Tamil Nadu Act XL of 1971, called the Tamil Nadu Occupants of Kudiyiruppu (Conferment of Ownership) Act, 1971.

2. This statute, Act XL of 1971, was invoked for the first time in this case in execution proceedings. It was not an issue between the parties at any earlier stage. The subject-matter of the claim under the Act was a house and backyard in a village in Nannilam Taluk. This property and another figured as the subject-matter of the suit. The suit was for possession. The plaintiffs in the suit claimed ownership of the suit property as settlees under a registered deed of settlement of the year 1953. The defendant was a son of the settlor. He came to the village some time after the settlor's death in 1961. He is in occupation of the house and backyard ever since. The suit was instituted in 1968. In the suit, the plaintiffs claimed that the defendant was a tenant under them on a monthly rent of Rs. 5. The defendant denied the tenancy. He denied the title of the plaintiffs. He asserted his own title to the property by adv