A.S.A. SAMPATH Vs. THE COMMISSIONER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner has approached this Court seeking quashment of the proceedings of the 1st Respondent herein in Se.Mu.Na.Ka.No.4885/2016/A2 dated 20.10.2016 in so far as it relates to appointment of the respondents 6 to 8 as Non-hereditary Trustee in Arulmigu Kailasanathaswamy Matrum Nithyakalyani Thirukoil at Elayathakudi and to direct the 1st Respondent to appoint the petitioner as non-hereditary trustee in the same temple.

(2.) The case of the petitioner is that Arulmighu Kailasanathaswamy Matrum Nithyakalyani Thirukoil, Ilayathangudi is under administration in accordance with the scheme originally settled in Appeal No.72 of 1923 and C.R.P.No.258 of 1923 before this Court vide order dated 01.11926. The temple is governed by the Scheme as per the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endorsements Act, 1959 (hereinafter referred to as HR & CE Act) and under Sec. 46(2) of the HR & CE Act it is declared as a Scheme Temple. In terms of the said scheme "Nagarathar" means the adult male members of the sub-division of Nattukottai Chetty Community known as "Ilayathakudi Nagarathars" consisting of the following Vaguppus or Groups: (a) Okkoorudayar Pirivu (b) Pattinasamyar (c) Kalanivasalkudiyar (d) Perumaruthoorudayar (e) Kinkinikurudayar (f) Sirusethurudayar and (g) Perusenthurudayar. The temple is administered by the Trustees, namely, hereditary trustees and non-hereditary trustees. The trustees are appointed from among the Karaikarar family i.e., hereditary trustee, every one of the agnatic groups comprising the lineal male descendants of the four following persons, namely, (i) R.M. Palaniappa Chetty of O. Siruvayal (ii) V.Sathappa Chetty of Kanadukathan (iii) S.V. Meyyappa Chetty of Karaikudi and (iv) T. Ramanathan Chetty of Devakottai and other non-Karaikarars (non hereditary trustees) are appointed by the 1st respondent as per Sec. 47(1)(a) (ii) of the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act, 1959, subject to the condition that the appointment of the three non-hereditary trustees (non-Karaikarar) shall be from anyone of the above said Vaguppu or Pirivu of the Nagarathar community.

(3.) As per the modified scheme, the appointment of non-hereditary trustees were governed by certain conditions of disqualifications and one of the conditions for disqualification, which is relevant for the present case is where a person shall not be under the age of 25 years or over the age of 65 years of age. This apart, the other conditions of disqualification are enumerated in clause IV of the scheme dated 01.12.1926. As per Clause VI of the scheme, every non-hereditary trustee, who is appointed shall hold office for a period of 5 years on the expiry of which he shall cease to hold the same; but he shall be eligible for renomination. While so, in 2016, vacancies for the office of the nonhereditary trustee had arisen and for consideration of the appointment as nonhereditary trustee, the petitioner submitted an application on 12.08.2016. Necessary documents for such consideration had also been enclosed along the application. Totally 7 persons including the petitioner were considered and out of the seven persons only three were to be selected as non-hereditary trustee as per the Scheme. On consideration of the relative merits of the candidates for appointment for the three vacancies of the office of the non-hereditary trustees, the first respondent eventually selected the respondents 6 to 8 herein and appointed them as non-hereditary trustees vide proceedings dated 20.10.2016. The said proceedings of the first respondent appointing respondents 6 to 8 herein as non-hereditary trustees is under challenge in this Writ Petition.