THANDAVAROYA PILLAI Vs. SHUNMUGAM PILLAI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The plaintiff and the second defendant with their father, the first defendant, form members of a joint Hindu family. The plaintiff claims possession of Sri Dandaynthapani temple with its endowment or in the alternative to joint possession and management of the same with the first and second defendants. The Subordinate Judge has passed a decree that the plaintiff and defendants are entitled to management in turns of one year each and that he should accordingly be put in possession of the temple and the properties attached thereto in the beginning of Fasli 1316 and he has also directed the defendants to render an account to the plaintiff of their management.

(2.) The defendants appeal from this decree.

(3.) The plaintiff's case is that, on account of certain disputes between the parties, it was decided by certain arbitrators to whom the questions in dispute were referred that, until the disposal of a suit then pending and until a final partition was effected, the family properties should be enjoyed in three shares and the temple and its affairs should be managed in rotation for a year with liability to account for income and expenditure. The defendants deny any arbitration and award and allege that there was only a temporary arrangement which was to subsist till the disposal of the suit referred to by the plaintiff. We agree with the Judge that there was no submission to arbitration nor an award by the arbitrators, that, on the other hand, there was only a temporary arrangement which was to be in force only till the disposal of the proceedings in Original Suit No 12 of 1902. Clause 3 of Exhibit A reciting that the management by turns was to go on till the said suit was disposed of" and the evidence of defence witness No. 1 clearly support this view. The proceedings in Original Suit No. 12 of 1902 terminated on the 18 January 1904.