Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan, J.

1. Section 14 of the Madras Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act, 1951 as substituted by Amending Act 31/2008; Madras Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (Amendment) Rules, 2009 inserting 'Rules under Section 14(3)'; and, Circular No.HRJ 1 - 5144/2009 dated 3.8.2009 issued by Commissioner of the Malabar Devaswom Board, for short, “Board”, are under challenge.

2. Heard learned senior advocate and other learned advocates for the petitioners, the learned Government Pleader and the learned standing counsel for the Board.

3. Different temples fall within 'Malabar area' as defined in Section 9(a) of the Madras Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act, 1951, for short, “Madras Act”. Petitioners are either hereditary trustees or trustees of some of those temples.

4. Section 14 is inserted in the Madras Act to provide for Temple Advisory Committees, for short, “TACs”. Sub-section 2 of that Section provides that TACs formed under sub-section 1 of that Section shall be approved by the Board. Subsection 1 provides that for the purpose of ensuring the adequate participation of Hindu devotees, a committee may be constituted for each