JUDGMENT :

Subba Rao, J.-This is an appeal by Special Leave against the Judgment and Decree of the High Court of Madras in Second Appeal No. 592 of 1948 setting aside the Judgment and Decree of the. District Judge, Guntur, in A. S. No. 189 of 1947, which confirmed the Judgment and Decree of the Subordinate Judge, Guntur, in 0. S. No. 112 of 1945.

The question that arises in the appeal is whether the High Court had jurisdiction to interfere with the findings of the learned District Judge in exercise of its power under Section 100, Civil Procedure Code.

The case is a simple one : The plaintiff-appellant is the deity Sri Pattabhiramaswami of Narasaraopet, represented by Dharmakartha Nagasarapu Subbarayudu. The plaintiff's case is that property to the extent of 12 acres and 30 cents, bearing survey number 1032/B was dedicated to the deity in 1868 by the members of the Behara family, that the land has ever since been in the enjoyment of the deity, that at some time-not exactly known when-the then trustees entered into a convenient arrangement with the pipers, where under in lieu of wages for services rendered to the temple, the said property was to be their possession that defendants 6 to