Hindu Nagar Community whether a religious denomination.

The defendants in O.S. No.242 of 1981 on the file of the District Munsif of Sathur are the appellants in the second appeal. The plaintiffs in the said suit are the respondents in the second appeal. For the sake of convenience the parties in this second appeal are referred to by their nomenclature given in the suit.

2. The first plaintiff is the managing committee of A.V.M. Marimuthu Nadar Higher Secondary School belonging to Vilampatti Nadar Uravinmurai and it is a registered society registered under the Societies Registration Act represented by its Secretary. The second plaintiff is the president and the third plaintiff is the member of the School managing committee. The fourth plaintiff is the president of Vilampatti Nadar Uravinmurai. The fifth plaintiff is the Secretary of the said committee. The plaintiffs filed the suit (a) for declaration that the Vilampatti Nadar Uravinmurai Higher Secondary School and the primary school named as A.V.M. Marimuthu Nadar Higher Secondary School and Nadar George Primary School managed by the first plaintiff-committee is a denominational institution entitled to protection under Articles 26 and 30 of the Constitution of India; (b) for an injunction restraining the defendants and their officers from in any way interfering with the management and administration of the above two educational institutions and the property belonging to the institutions including the stoppage of the grants in pursuance of the Act 29 of 1974 by enforcing sections 8, 11 to 18, 21 to 26, 31 to 33, 39, 41 to 47 and 56 and rules 5, 7, 9, 10 to 14, 15 to 18 and 21 to 24 of the Tamil Nadu Recognised Private Schools (Regulation) Act, 1973 and the rules framed thereunder; and (c) for further declaration that the Vilampatti Nadar Uravinmurai, the fourth plaintiff in the suit, is a religious denomination entitled to run and manage institutions of its own accord under the rights conferred under Articles 26 and 30 of the Constitution of India. The case of the plaintiffs is as follows :

The Hindu Nadars of Vilampatti are having an Uravinmurai under the name Vilampatti Nadar Uravinmurai established in the year 1895. The Uravinmurayars are running a 'Higher Secondary School', under the name A.V.M. Marimuthu Nadar Higher Secondary School and elementary school under the name Nadar George Primary School which was established in the year 1918. For running the said educational institutions the Uravinmurayars have formed a separate school committee and registered the same under the Societies Registration Act. The objection of the Uravinmurai which is the educational agency established and administering the school for the benefits of the Hindu Nadar Community, and is assisting financially to run the school, to help the poor and needy students and also to administer Kaliamman and Karuppasamy Koil at Vilampatti village. The Uravinmurai consists of only Hindu Nadars of Vilampatti and the Hindu Nadars of Vilampatti alone are entitled to become members of the School committee and they are alone ligible to hold membership. They are owning two temples namely Kaliamman Temple and Karuppasamy temple. They have important festivals of their own other than those of the majority Hindus, namely Adi Pongal and Panguni Pongal. They only worship Kaliamman and Karuppasamy as a form of Devil Gods. The Hindu Nadars of Vilampatti have separate cremation grounds, Nandavanam and wells for drinking water. They have separate barber and dhobi exclusively for them. The 1st plaintiff is administering temples. The 1st plaintiff is the limb of Nadar Uravinmurai and the Uravinmurai is administering the temple, Managing Committee and also other charitable matters. The 1st plaintiff is a religious denominational institution under Article 26 of the Constitution of India and a minority institution under Article 30 of the Indian Constitution and consequently entitled to the protection under Articles 26 and 30. In the suit the plaintiffs prayed for a declaration