The said appeals were heard by a Division Bench of the said High Court, companysisting of Satyanarayana Rao and Rajagopalan, JJ.
184 of 1945 and O.S. No.
The High Court agreed with the trial companyrt on the finding relating to the nature of the grants to the temples, that is to say it held that the grants to the temples companyprised both the varams, namely, melvaram and kudivaram.
That order came to be made under the following circumstances.
Against the decree of the High Court in A.S. No.
They also claimed mesne profits for a period of 3 years prior to the suit.
5 and 6 in A. No.
Appeals from the judgment and decree dated November 28, 1962 of the Madras High Court in 385, 259, 260, 385 of 1947 respectively.
In other proceedings the archakas claimed that the lands were service inams, but they did number companye forward with the present plea that melvaram only was granted to the deity.
He also decreed mesne profits to the plaintiffs for a period of 3 years prior to the suits and also subsequent profits from the date of the suits to the date of delivery of possession at the rate fixed by him.
They also disclosed hat the paditharam paddy directed to be paid to the temple was more than the kist payable thereon to the Government.
S. No.
183 of 1945, O.S. No.
D 1 of 1867, D 2 of 1868, D 3 of 1870 and D 4 of 1883 are some of the mortgages executed by the archakas ,of Chowleswaraswami temple.
On the said issue he held in all the three suits that the grants to the three deities companyprised both the varams.
In the result the learned Subordinate Judge gave a decree in each of the suits for possession of the plaint schedule properties except those companyered by the alienations effected before May 16, 1931.
1, 2 and 8 in A. No.
One of the issues in the application was whether the inam companyprised melvaram or both melvaram and Kudivaram.
259 of 1947 and A.S. No.
The main issue in O.S. No.
Learned companynsel for the appellants relied upon an order made by A.R.C. Westlake, Collector of Coimbatore, on April 14, 1941, wherein he held that only melvaram was granted to the deity.
184 of 1945 was filed in the said Court by the trustees of Sri Pongali Amman temple situated in the village of Vengambur for the recovery of the properties mentioned in the schedule attached to the plaint.
646 652 of 1960.
185 of 1945 was whether the inam grants made to the three temples companysisted of both varams or melvaram alone.
Further, pattas for the suit lands were transferred without any objection of the archakas in the name of the deities in 1939 and the archakas also paid companytribution to the Madras Hindu Religious Endowments Board on tile basis that both the varams belonged to the deity.
385 of 1947 both the archakas and the trustees preferred appeals to this Court questioning the companyrectness of the decree of the High Court in so far as it went against them.
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION Civil Appeal No.
The trustees appointed by the Coimbatore District Temple Committee filed an application before the Revenue Division Officer under s. 44 B11 a of the Madras Hindu Religious Endowments Amendment Act, 1934, for a declaration that the alienations of portions of inam land attached to the temple were null and void and for resumption and regrant of the same to the deity.
The Revenue Division Officer held that the inam companyprised both the varams.
Against the decree in A.S. No.
P 12, P 13, P 14 and P 15 are companyies of mortgages executed by the archakas.
It is number necessary to mention other defences raised in the written statements filed in the three suits as numberhing turns upon them in these appeals.
V. Viswanatha Sastri and R. Gopalakrishnan, for the appellant in C.A. Nos.
648, 649 and 650 of 1960 and for the respondents in C.A. Nos.
S. No.
The learned Subordinate Judge tried the said suits along with two other suits and delivered a companymon judgment therein.
259, 260 and 385 of 1947.
They did number disturb the finding of the learned Subordinate Judge in regard to the alienations, that is they maintained the alienations made before May 16, 1931.
The companyduct of the archakas, therefore, is companysistent with the recitals in the inam register, namely, that what was granted to the deity was the land i.e., both the varams, and that they had been put in possession and enjoyment of the said land in their capacity as archakas and de facto trustees.
185 of 1945 was filed in the same Court by the trustees of Sri Varadaraja Perumal temple situated in Vengambur village .
The defendants in the said suits preferred appeals to the High Court of Madras, being Appeals Nos.
The learned Judges, for the first time, though there was numberpleading, numberissue and numbercontention in the trial Court, held that the archakas were entitled to have a portion of the said properties allotted to them towards their remuneration for the services to the temples and gave a decree directing the division of the said properties into two halves and putting the archakas in possession of one half.
649 of 1960 respondents Nos.
183, 184 and 185 of 1945 filed in the Court of the Subordinate Judge, Coimbator, Madras State.
T. Desai, K. Jayaram and R. Ganapathy Iyer, for respondents No.
July 31, 1964.
Indeed the documents on which the learned companynsel relied companytain clear and unambiguous admission on the part of the archakas that the land itself was the property of the deity.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by SUBBA RAO, J. These five appeals by certificate arise out of Original Suits Nos.
651 of 1960 .
Under these documents the land in their possession was mortgaged and it was described as paditharam Manyam.
183 of 1945 relates to properties claimed on behalf of Sri Chowleswaraswami temple.
1, 3, 4, 5, 8 to 11, 15, 16, 18, 19 and 21 in C.A. No.
Periaswami Goundar and Samana Goundar, the plaintiffs in the said suit, are the trustees of the said temple.
652 of 1960 .
They filed the suit for the recovery of the plaint scheduled properties from the defendants who are the archakas and the alienees from them on the ground that the said properties were the properties of the deity and that the defendants had numberright therein.
651 and 652 of 1960 .
V. R. Tatachari, for respondents Nos.
The plaintiffs sought to recover the properties mentioned in the schedule annexed to the plaint from the archakas and the alienees from them on the same grounds and the defendants raised similar pleas.
650 of 1960 and the appellants in C.A. No.
The defendants, who are the archakas and alienees from them, inter alia, pleaded that only melvaram in the said properties was granted to the deity and that the archakas owned the kudivaram therein and that they had validly alienated their interest in the said properties in favour of the alienees.
The defendants filed a written statement admitting the claim of the deity to the melvaram interest in the properties but claimed that the archakas owned the kudivaram therein and that some of the said properties were validly transferred to the alienees.
In the prior proceedings i.e., applications preferred by the archakas for declaring the temples as excepted ones, there was numberclaim that the melvaram alone was granted to the deity.
648 of 1960 and appellants in C.A. No.
