This appeal by the Commissioner of the Hindu Religious Endowments raises an interesting point for determination. The appeal is against an order passed by the learned District Judge of Chingleput on a petition filed under section 84(2) of the Madras Hindu Religious Endowments Act by one Nallathambi Ayyaswami Mudaliar, the younger son of Suryaprakasa Mudaliar, who died on 16th March, 1942, to set aside an order passed by the Board declaring his elder brother P.N. Swaminatha Mudaliar to be the hereditary trustee on the latter’s application. The learned District Judge amended the order of the Board with a direction that the elder brother Swaminatha Mudaliar would be allowed to continue as hereditary trustee managing the affairs of the temple till a pending question of partition as between the brothers was decided and the right of the younger brother to be the hereditary trustee in rotation was determined by the Board. The Commissioner now questions the jurisdiction of the learned District Judge to amend the order of the Board in this manner.

The relevant and undisputed facts are briefly these. The elder brother P.N. Swaminatha Mudaliar was adjudicated an insolvent in I.P.No.10