ORDER: This revision is directed against an order of the Second Munsif, Cuttack refusing to apply Section 4 of the Indian Partition Act to the proceedings before him.

2. The facts are briefly these. The property in question is a dwelling house belonging to four branches of a family: one-fourth share belongs to defendant No. 1, a stranger; one-fourth share belongs to defendant No. 5 in his own right; one-fourth to defendants 2, 3 and 4, and the remaining one-fourth was purchased by the wife of defendant No. 5, who filed the suit for partition in order to buy off the share of defendant No. 1. A preliminary decree was granted and before the final decree was drawn up defendant No. 5, applied under Section 4 of the Partition Act to buy up the share of defendant No. 1, who was a stranger to the family. The learned Munsif rejected the petition on the ground that as the suit was not instituted by the stranger-transferee, section 4 of the Act did not, in terms, apply. Hence this revision.

3. It is contended by Mr. Das Gupta appearing for the petitioner that Section 4 of the Partition Act can be applied in a case where the stranger-transferee is arrayed as a party-defendant as in this case and