Judgement

PANIGRAHI, J. :- This is an appeal by the plaintiffs against the judgment of the District Judge, reversing the judgment of the Subordinate Judge, Sambalpur. The plaintiffs are the descendants of one Nidhi Gountia, who was admittedly the Gountia of the village of Kermali within the ambit of the defendants zamindari of Borasambar. The plaintiffs case is that Nidhi Gountia held the village on a Thikadari tenure and that by way of a family arrangement had allotted the sir and bhogra lands of the village to his sons; that the lands described in Sch. B of the plaint had been allotted to his son, Maheswar; and the lands described in Sch. C had similarly been allotted to his son, Gangadhar. Plaintiffs 1 and 2 and plaintiffs 3-6 are, respectively, the descendants of Maheswar and Gangadhar. The lands described in Sch. D were, according to the plaintiffs, allotted to three other sons of Nidhi, who are not concerned with the present dispute, and those properties are not in suit. The plaintiffs case is that the grant of the village in Thikadari right was made in perpetuity to an ancestor of the plaintiffs and was the family property of the plaintiffs. On Nidhis death, his eldest son, G