The Judgment was delivered by :

The unsuccessful plaintiffs, ten in number, are the appellants. Having initially failed before the authorities under the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act, 1959, hereinafter referred to as the Act, in their O. A. No. 20 of 1969 on the file of the Deputy Commissioner, H. R. and C.E. (Admn.) Department and the subsequent appeal, A. P. No. 56 of 1975, on the file of the Commissioner, H. R. and C.E. (Admn.) Department, they filed O. S. No. 61 of 1979 on the file of the Sub Court, Tiruvallur, to set aside the order in A. P. No. 56 of 1975 and consequently to allow their petition, O. A. No. 20 of 1969. The said suit filed under Section 70 of the Act was dismissed and hence this appeal.

2. The abovesaid authorities negatived the plaintiff's prayer for declaration that they are the hereditary trustees of the suit temple. According to the plaint, suit temple was built by the father of plaintiffs 1 and 2 with the funds supplied by the family of all plaintiffs in the year 1921, all of them hail from a common ancestor and they and their predecessors alone have been the hereditary trustees of the suit temple all along for over five decades.