SRI LA SRI SUBRAMANIA PANDARASANNADHI, THE MANAGING TRUSTEE OF SRI VEDARANEESWARASWAMI TEMPLE AND SRI SUBRAMANYASWAMI TEMPLE Vs. HINDU RELIGIOUS ENDOWMENTS BOARD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In exercise of the powers conferred by Sub-section (3) of Section 65-A of the Madras Hindu Religious Endowments Act, 1926, the Government of Madras, by a notification, dated the 9 August, 1939, directed that the Sri Subramanyaswami temple, Ettugudi, which is in the Tanjore District, and the endowments belonging thereto should be subject to the provisions of Ch. VI-A of the Act. This notification meant that the management of the temple was to be taken out of the hands of the appellant, who was the managing trustee, and placed in the hands of an executive officer appointed by the Madras Hindu Religious Endowments Board.

(2.) In Appeals Nos. 222 and 241 of 1920 this Court settled a scheme for the management of the temple. The appeals arose out of O.S. No. 7 of 1913 of the Court of the Temporary Subordinate Judge of Tanjore. On the 30 August, 1939, the appellant filed on the Original Side of this Court the suit which has given rise to the present appeal. He asked for a declaration that the proceedings taken by the Board for the notification of the temple under Chapter VI-A are "illegal, void, without jurisdiction, not judicial but arbitrary and therefore not legally binding" on him or the temple. The suit was tried by Chandrasekhara Ayyar, J., who held that the appellant had not made out a case for the declaration.

(3.) Before us the appellant has challenged the validity of the notification on two grounds. In the first place he says that when the Board issued notice under Sub-section (1) of Section 65- A it did not cause it to be served on all the necessary parties to the proceedings. In the second place he contends that the order of the Board on which the notification is based was arbitrary and fell within the decision of this Court in Deivasikamani Ponnambala Desikar V/s. The Board of Commissioners for H.R.E., Madras .