S.S. Sundar, J.

The plaintiff in the suit in O.S. No.120 of 1999 on the file of the Principal Sub Court, Thanjavur, is the appellant in the above First Appeal.

2. The appellant filed the suit in O.S. No.120 of 1999 for partition of his ½ share in the suit properties. The suit properties consist of two items. Item 1 is a house property and item 2 consists of three different properties of agricultural land in different survey numbers in Keerakollai Village in Thanjavur Taluk, Thanjavur District.

3. The case of the appellant is that he and the defendant are brothers and that they jointly purchased the suit properties under two registered sale deeds. According to the plaintiff, the first item was purchased on 14.10.1970 and the second item was purchased on 20.11.1972 jointly in the name of plaintiff and the defendant. It is also the specific case of the plaintiff that the suit properties are in the common enjoyment of both the plaintiff and the defendant. The plaintiff has also stated in the plaint about some of the instances by which the suit properties were dealt with by the parties as their common properties. Though the plaintiff is residing in the first item of suit property