JUDGMENT

A.S. NAIDU, J. : The petitioners claimed to be the erst¬while Marfatdars of the Deity, Sri Mangala Thakurani Bije, Kakat¬pur in the district of Puri. The said institution has been de¬clared to be a Public Religious Endowment under the provisions of the Orissa Hindu Religious Endowment Act, 1972, hereinafter to be called as “OHRE Act”. In consonance with the provisions of the said Act, a Committee of Management was constituted to manage the institution and its properties. Admittedly, the petitioners do not claim to be the members of the Managing Committee, but ac¬cording to them before the institution was declared as a public religious endowment, their ancestors were acting as the Marfat¬dars of the Deity. The controversy in this writ petition is with regard to settlement of the lands made by the O.E.A. Collector, Kakatpur in Bebandobasta (O.E.A.) Case No.1833 of 2001. By the said order, the disputed lands have been settled in favour of the Deity represented through it’s Trust Board. The disputed lands over which the petitioners put-forth their claim appertains to Plot No.2013 of Khata No.857, measuring an area of Ac.0.11 deci¬mals situated in Mouza Kakatpur. The nomenclatu