Ramaswami, J.- The two Letters Patent Appeals are against the Judgment of Ismail, J. disposing of A.A.O. No. 338 of 1965. The appellants in L.P.A. No. 31 of 1969 are the plaintiffs in O.S. No. 359 of 1963 on the file of the Court of the District Munsif of Kumbakonam. The suit is for a declaration that the suit temple belonged to the members of Pattusaluvar community exclusively and that they alone own the temple and worship the deity of the temple and that nobody else had any right in the properties acquired for the said temple. There was also the prayer for accounting by defendants 1 and 2 who had been appointed as trustees for the temple by the Area Committee and approved by the Commissioner, Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department. On the whole, there were six defendants in the suit. Defendants 1 to 3 were the trustees appointed for the temple. The fourth defendant is a lessee of the temple properties. The fifth defendant is the Area Committee and the sixth defendant is the Commissioner himself. One of the contentions raised by the defendants is that the suit is not maintainable in the civil Court inasmuch as the main question that falls for determination is within

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