JUDGMENT :

T. Ravindran, J.

1. Aggrieved over the judgment and decree dated 30.07.2008 passed in O.S. No. 155 of 2006 on the file of the First Additional District Court, Erode, the plaintiffs have preferred the appeal.

2. For the sake of convenience, the parties are referred to as per their rankings in the trial court.

3. Suit for declaration and partition.

4. The case of the plaintiffs, in brief, is that the plaintiffs and the first defendant are the daughters and the son of Ramasamy Gounder through his first wife Arukkaniammal. Arukkaniammal died on 09.02.2005. Ramasamy Gounder died on 30.09.2005 leaving behind the plaintiffs and the first defendant as his legal heirs. Ramasamy Gounder, during the life time of Arukkaniammal, had married one Jayalaxmi for his whims and fancies and through her, he had begotten the second defendant. Ramasamy Gounder had some ancestral lands and out of the income from the abovesaid ancestral properties, he purchased various items as detailed in the plaint and put up the construction therein and enjoying the same and thus, according to the plaintiffs, all the suit properties are the ancestral joint family properties of Ramasamy Gounder and his children, na