P. SHANMUGAM, J.

Defendants 1 and 2 are the appellants. Thirunayanarkurichy Desivinayagam Pillayar Devasthanam Temple (hereinafter referred to as "the Temple") and its trustees have filed the suit in O.S.No.18 of 1982 for declaration of title in reference the suit property of an extent of 2.12 acres in Sy.No.5392 (R.S.No.242/3) of Kadiyapattnam Village, Kanyakumari District and for a permanent injunction to restrain the first defendant from executing the decree in O.S.No.210 of 1980 in reference to the suit property. The suit was decreed by the learned Subordinate Judge, Padmanabhapuram. Aggrieved by the judgement and decree, defendants 1 and 2 have preferred the above appeal.

2. The facts are as follows:-

The temple is a public temple. The suit property of an extent of 2.12 acres originally belonged to the ancestor of the second defendant, who dedicated it to the temple, and the same was under the management of the kariasthan of the temple. The case of the plaintiffs is that in the year 1040 Malayala Era (1865), the then administrators of the temple and its property executed an otti and Kuzhikkanam in favour of a stranger and his heirs were in possession of the suit prope