V. Ramaswami, J.

( 1 ) DEFENDANTS 4 and 5 in the suit are the appellants herein. The suit was filed by the plaintiff to set aside the order of the Commissioner. Hindu Religious and charitable Endowments, confirming the order of the Deputy Commissioner holding that the plaintiff was not a hereditary trustee of the suit Mariamman temple. Defendants 1 to 3 were the non-hereditary trustees appointed by the Area committee. The plaintiffs case was that Sir Mariamman temple in Mulla-vasal is an ancient temple. that for the past three generations no one other than the members of his family had ever managed or controlled the affairs of the temple, that his grandfather as hereditary trustee reconstructed the temple in 1899, that for the first time in 1950 one Subramania Iyer was appointed as a trustee by the endowments Board and that the plaintiff was also functioning as a trustee along with Subramania Iyer. He further contended that his grandfather was a trustee till 1910 when he died and was succeeded by his father Dharmalinga Ponnapoondar. the plaintiff succeeded as the trustee on the death of his father in 1924 and continued to be a trustee since then. When disputes arose, the