This is a plaintiffs appeal challenging the judgment and decree of the learned Addl. District Judge dismissing the suit of the plaintiffs. The relevant facts necessary for adjudication of this appeal, are stated briefly hereinbelow :

The suit was instituted by the plaintiff No. 1, Shri R. K. Madhuryyajit Singh, as a Shebait on his behalf and also on behalf of Shri Mahaprabhu, a Hindu Vaishnava deity installed at Janmasthan, Moirangkhom, Imphal (Plaintiff No. 2) for declaration of right, title and interest of the plaintiff No. 2 over the suit land and the plaintiff No. 1 is its Shebait and that the plaintiffs have absolute right of possession and enjoyment over the suit land without any hinderrance from the defendants and their privies, agents; a decree for perpetual injunction and also a decree for recovery of damages and compensation from the defendants for the interference and disturbance caused by them. As per the pleadings of the parties, they and their predecessors-in-interest are all Manipuri Hindus governed by the Dayabhaga school of Hindu law except the plaintiff No. 2 which is a Hindu Vaishnava deity/idol. The suit land is an agricultural land under patta No. 30/151 (Old)/254 (new)/ Thoubal comprising C.S. Dags No. 1192, 1194, 165 and 167 situated in village No. 30 Kshetri Leikai within Thoubal Sub-Division and belongs to and recorded in the name of Shri Mahaprabhu, a Hindu Vaishnava deity, installed and worshipped by late Premamayee alias Ngangbi Maharani at Janmesthan, Imphal which is the plaintiff No. 2 and represented by its shebait, the plaintiff No. 1. Late Maharani Premamayee alias Ngangbi Maharani, the queen-consort of late Surchandra Maharaja of Manipur was the founder and a shebait of the said Shree Mahaprabhu which was installed and worshipped in a temple constructed on the homestead land under patta No. 40/145 (old)/154 (new)/IW situated at Janmasthan which the Maharani dedicated to the deity. The queen-consort of late Surchandra Maharaja also dedicated the suit land to the deity for its seva-puja and was managing and enjoying the suit land as a Shebait till her death. Ngangbi Maharani died on the 5th day of Wakching, 1848 Sakabda without leaving any issue. The said date corresponds to the 8th of January, 1927. Her adopted son, legates and natural heir, R. K. Birehandrajit alias Birchandra Singh, the son of her younger sister Kunjamala, inherited all her properties including the Shebaitship of Shree Mahaprabhu, the deity. Said natural heir of the late Ngangbi Maharani continuted to worship and offer sevapuja to the deity at its temple at Janmasthan, Moirangkhom, Imphal and managed and enjoyed the suit land as such Shebait till his death. On the death of R.K. Birehandrajit intestate in 1934, the plaintiff No. 1 as the sole heir of late R.K. Birehandrajit alias Birchandra Singh, inherited all the properties including the Shebaitship of the said deity till institution of the suit. The plaintiff No. 1 as such Shebait was enjoying and managing the suit land by growing paddy crops from year to year by engaging local agricultural workers.

2. The plaintiff No. 1 got his name mutated as early as in 1947 in place of the name of Maharani Premamayee alias Ngangbi Maharani in the racords of right in respect of all the lands other than the suit land left by the Ngangbi Maharani including the homestead land under patta No. 40/145 (old)/154(new)/IW wherein the said deitys temple and Mandap were/are stending and the deity was/is usually installed and worshipped. However, through inadvertence, the mutation of the suit land was not effected before 1982. The name of the plaintiff No. 1 was recorded as the Shebait of the deity in respect of the suit land only on 19-5-82. But the defendants without any semblance of title and right to the suit lands as also to the shebaitship of the said deity, managed the suit land in May and June, 1982 behind the back of the plaintiff and also managed to substitute some of their names