JUDGMENT.- This second appeal raises a point about the application of the provisions of section 51 (iv) of the Tamil Nadu Public Trusts (Regulation of Administration of Agricultural Lands) Act, 1961, (Tamil Nadu Act LVII of 1961). The appellant Thiagaraja Sendar obtained a lease of a tope in Govindakudi village which belongs to Sri Pasupatheswararswami Devasthanam, Avur. The lease comprised two items, a punja land bearing R.S.No. 635 and a coconut tope bearing R.S.No. 612/3. We are concerned in this second appeal only with one item viz., the tope. A lease deed was executed by the appellant in favour of the Devasthanam on 2nd December, 1964. It was also signed by the then Executive Officer of the Devasthanam. Under the lease deed, the appellant had to pay Rs.lOO per year as rent for the coconut tope. The lease deed also provided that the appellant could utilise the inter-space in the tope for punja cultivation. The lease was for a period of three years from 1374 to 1376 faslis. Even subsequent to the expiry of the period of lease the appellant continued to be in occupation of the coconut tope, and he had been paying the rent as stipulated thereunder to the Devasthanam. Subsequently

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