Judgment

MUKHERJEA, J. :- This appeal by certificate from a judgment of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh arises out of a dispute regarding the succession to the office of the spiritual head (Mohunt) of Sri Swami Mathiramjee Mutt, Tirumalai, Tirupati. The facts out of which the appeal arises may be stated briefly. Succession to the office of the Mohunt of the Mutt is admittedly regulated by custom which provides that upon the death of a mohunt his senior disciple becomes the next mohunt. This is, however, subject to the condition that the senior disciple must be a North-Indian Brahmin. In 1947 Sri Prayagadasjee Varu was the Mohunt of the Mutt. Upon his death in 1947 there was a dispute about the succession to the office of Mohunt between two contestants viz. Sri Narayanadasjee Varu and Sri Chetandossjee Varu. The dispute appears to have been resolved by the intervention of what is described as the Supreme Council of Mohunts viz. the Akada Panchayat. Under the terms of compromise which are to be found in Ex. B-8, Sri Narayanadasjee Varu became the Mohunt and after him, the office was to devolve on Chetendoss and after Chetandoss on a senior disciple of Narayanadasjee Varu. Narayanadas