JUDGMENT :

The first respondent in both the appeals as a plaintiff filed a suit in O.S.No.49 of 2004 on the file of the Principal Sub Court, Tirunelveli, against the officials of the HR & CE Department, District Collector, Tirunelveli and four other private parties, to set aside the order passed by the first defendant/Special Commissioner and the Commissioner, HR & CE., Chennai, in A.P.No.22/2002, dated 26.09.2003 and for a declaration to declare the plaintiff as hereditary trustee of the suit temple. After trial, the trial Court, by judgment and decree dated 21.11.2005, decreed the suit. Aggrieved by the said judgment and decree, the private defendants filed A.S(MD)No.345 of 2005 and the officials of the HR & CE Department filed A.S(MD)No.53 of 2009. As pleadings and submissions are common, both the appeals are heard together and disposed by this common judgment.

2. Brief facts stated in the plaint are as follows:-

About 100 years ago, one Arunachala Thevar established the suit temple namely, Thanthondri Amman Kovil in Veeranam Village. Originally, the suit temple was formed in zamin land and after the enactment of Zamindari Abolition Act, 1950, the land in which, the suit temple was