JUDGMENT

Tarun Chatterjee, J. —

1. This appeal is filed against the judgment and order dated 25th of September, 2001 of the High Court of Judicature at Madras whereby the High Court had dismissed the L.P.A. No. 196 of 1996 preferred by the appellants before it.

2. The relevant facts leading to the filing of this appeal as emerging from the case made out by the appellants are narrated in a nutshell for a better understanding and determination of the disputes between the parties:

It is the case of the appellants plaintiffs before the trial court that their ancestor Ellu Iyer, constructed and built three temples, namely, Pillaiyar Temple, Anjaneyaswami Temple and Gopalakrishna temple out of his own funds some time before 1890. The aforesaid temples were throughout treated as private temples of the appellants and were virtually in their management. The members of the public never had any right to offer worship in the temples and the deities were never dedicated to the public. On 18th of March, 1965, the mother of the first appellant had received a letter from three persons alleging that they had been appointed as non-hereditary trustees of the aforementioned temples by the Hindu Religi