Judgement

JUDGMENT :- The plaintiffs have preferred this appeal against the decision of the court below confirming the decision of the trial court dismissing the plaintiffs suit for a declaration that plaintiff No. 2 is the hereditary trustee of the deity, plaintiff No. 1, and for other ancillary reliefs.

2. The plaintiffs case, in short, is that plaintiff No. 2 is the sole hereditary trustee of the deity, plaintiff No. 1. Late Rama Mahanty was the last male hereditary trustee of the deity. After his death in 1920, his widow Jamuna succeeded as a trustee of the deity, but as she was then a minor, her father Bada Ghana Patra was managing the deity s affairs on behalf of Jamuna. The first defendant and his relations at times used to help Jamuna and Bada Ghana Patra in the management of the deity s affairs. In 1921 the first defendant falsely claimed to be the hereditary trustee of the deity and forcibly occupied the temple of the deity and its properties. At this Jamuna filed O. S. No. 216/24 in the court of the Munsif at Berhampur against defendant No. 1 for recovery of possession of the temple of the deity and its properties. In Feb. 1926 the suit was decreed as per the agreed terms