The respondent herein filed a suit in the Court of the District Munsiff of Tenali for a declaration that they have exclusive right to hold the lighted torch, Sannidhikola, inside the chariot during the Radhotsavam of Sri Agasthis-waraswami at Nandivelugu and for a permanent injunction restraining the defendants from interfering with their right. The basis of the suit was that, ever since the inauguration of the car festival, the ancestors of the plaintiffs and the plaintiffs have been exercising exclusive right of holding the lighted torch inside the chariot and that this right was being exercised till they were obstructed by the defendants in the year of 1945.

The suit was resisted by the defendants, who are the trustees of the temple mainly on two grounds. The exclusive right of the plaintiffs to hold the Sannidhikola was denied and it was also pleaded that the suit was not cognisable by a civil Court as the right claimed related only to a religious honour or dignity.

The trial Court, while holding that the plaintiffs have proved their exclusive right to hold the lighted torch, though for a few years before the institution of the suit they did not exercise this right, dis