PANIGRAHI, C. J.

( 1 ) THE litigation giving rise to this second appeal has had a chequered career. The plaintiffs sued for a declaration that the registration of defendant No. 1 as the thikadar of village Jhidki in Tahsil Nawapara is contrary to law and that plaintiff no. 1, Gangadhar Kumbhar (who is the appellant before us) is entitled to be the sole thikadar of the village which forms the subject-matter of the suit. The plaint allegations are that the father of the parties, the deceased Bhakti Kumbhar, was the last recorded thikadar of the village and that Gangadhar plaintiff 1 and dinabandhu father of plaintiff No. 2 are the sons of the deceased Bhakti Kumbhar by his first wife and that the defendants Dinadayal and Kalana are the illegitimate sons of Bhakti through a mistress kept by him. It is further alleged that the village Jhidki having been carved out of the impartible khariar estate is inalienable and impartible and that succession is regulated by the rule of primogeniture. Gangadhar being the eldest son of the senior-most line claims to have succeeded by survivorship to the thikadari interest, to the exclusion of the other sons of the deceased Bhakti. The defendants res