P.B.Suresh Kumar, J. The above appeals arise from O.S No.182 of 1990 on the files of the Court of the Subordinate Judge, Kozhikode.

Among the appeals, A.S.No.17 of 1996 is preferred by the second defendant in the suit and A.S.No.752 of 1995 is preferred by the supplemental fourth defendant in the suit.

Parties are referred to in this judgment, unless otherwise mentioned, as they appear in the suit.

2.The suit was one for partition of two items of properties. Among them, item 1 was a joint family property held by one Rarichan and item 2 was a self acquired property of Matha, the wife of Rarichan. Rarichan died in the year 1952.

Matha predeceased Rarichan. Rarichan and Matha had three children namely, Chathukutty, Sankaran and Lakshmi. Plaintiff is the daughter of Chathukutty. The first defendant is the wife of Sankaran and the second defendant is the daughter of Sankaran. The third defendant is Lakshmi, the daughter of Rarichan and Matha.

3.The case set out by the plaintiff in the plaint as regards item 1 property is that on the death of Rarichan, the same devolved on his three children and on the death of her father, namely, Chathukutty, she being the sole heir of Chathukutty,