JUDGMENT

The petitioners are the respondents 25 and 26 in I.A.No.4395/2009 in FDIA No.1721/1998 in O.S.208/1994 of the Court of the Principal Subordinate Judge, Thalassery. The respondents 1 and 2 in the original petition are the petitioners 2 and 3 in the above application, and the remaining respondents are the other respondents in the application. The respondents 28 to 42 are the legal representatives of the deceased respondents 3, 4 and 7. The parties are, for the sake of convenience and wherever the context so requires, referred to as per their status in the original petition.

2. The concise case of the petitioners, relevant for the determination of the original petition is:

(i) the petitioners were the defendants in the above suit and the legal representatives of the original plaintiff ― late Madhavi, who had filed the suit for partition. The court below passed a preliminary decree partitioning the plaint schedule properties into 14 equal shares. 1/14 share each was allotted to the plaintiff, defendants 1 and 2, defendants 3 and 8, defendants 9 and 10, defendants 11 to 16, defendants 17 to 22 and the remaining 8/14 shares were allotted to the group of the petitioners, i.e., defen