The plaintiffs in O.S. No. 373 of 1969 on the file of the District Munsif, Nagercoil, are the appellants herein. They filed a suit for a declaration that plaintiff. 2 to 8 are the legally constituted trustees of one Nagercoil East Street, Asarimar Samudayam Mutharamman and Natesaswamy Trust and that in such capacity they are entitled to manage the affairs of certain temples and for an injunction restraining the defendants 1 to 5, the trustees appointed by the area committee, Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment Department, Suchindram, the sixth defendant from interfering with such management of the temples. Their case was that the temples in question belonged to the Asarimar community and that the trustees for the management of the temples are elected only by the mebers of the community and that the area committee constituted under the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act, 1959 had no right to interfere with the management of the temples by appointing trustees of its choice. In effect they sought a declaration that the order of the area committee appointing the defendants 1 to 5 as trustees of the temples in question was without jurisdiction.

2. The suit was r