Gajendragadkar, C. J. - (1.) On August 4, 1956, the Governor of Madras issued a notification in exercise of the powers conferred on him by sub-s. (4) of S. 64 of the Madras Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act, 1951 (Madras Act XIX of 1951) directing that notification No. 638, dated the 25th May, 1937, relating to Sri Thiyagarajaswami Temple. Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam Taluk, Tanjor District be continued for a period of five years from September 30, 1956. The earlier notification which was thus continued had itself been issued by the respondent State of Madras in exercise of the powers conferred on it by cl. (b) of sub-s. (5) of S. 65A of the Hindu Religious Endowments Act, 1926 (Madras Act II of 1927), declaring that the temple in question and the specific endowments attached thereto shall be subject to the provisions of Chapter VI-A of the said Act. In other words, the earlier notification which brought the temple of Sri Thiyagarajaswami at Tiruvarur under the purview of the earlier Madras Act has been extended by the notification issued on 4th August, 1956 for a further period of five years. By a writ petition filed by the appellant, Sri-la Sri Subramania Desika Gnanasambanda Pandarasannidi. Hereditary Trustee of the Rajan Kattalai of the temple in question, in the High Court of Madras the validity of this latter notification was challenged. The High Court has rejected the pleas raised by the appellant in support of his case that the impugned notification is invalid, and has dismissed the writ petition filed by him. It is against this order that the appellant has come to this Court with a certificate granted by the High Court. The controversy between the parties as it has been presented before us in appeal, really lies within a very narrow compass, but in order to appreciate the points raised for our decision, it is necessary to set out very briefly the background of the present litigation.
(2.) In the town of Tiruvarur in Thanjavur District, there is an ancient temple. The Presiding Deity is Sri Thiyagarajaswami. A distinguishing feature of this temple is that apart from an allowance called 'the Mohini allowance', there is no other property which can be treated as devoted for its general maintenance. A large number of specific endowments called 'Kattalais' with specific reference to special services in the temple, its festivities and several charities in glorification of the principal deity, have, however, been made in respect of this temple. It is said that there are 13 such Kattalais, the important amongst them being Rajan Kattalai, Ulthurai Kattalai, Abisheka Kattalai and Annadanam Kattalai. In respect of these Kattalais, large endowments have been made. According to the appellant, these endowments were made by the Indian Rulers who ruled Thanjavur before the establishment of the British Rule. It appears that the management of each one of these Kattalais is vested in a certain Trustee or Trustees hereditarily. The trusteeship of Rajan Kattalai vests in the head of the Dharamapuram mutt in the Thanjavur district. The Dharamapuram mutt itself has large endowments of lands in Thanjavur and Tirunelveli districts. The head of this mutt is known as Pandarasannadhi and under his management there are about 27 temples. Having regard to the nature of the duties of the head of a mutt of this importance and magnitude, it is not possible for the Pandarasannadhi to supervise all the temples personally, and so Deputies are appointed on his behalf to supervise and look after the management of the various institutions. With regard to the services connected with the Rajan Kattalai in Sri Thiyagarajaswami temple at Thiruvarur, the head of Dharmapuram mutt generally functions through a deputy known as Kattalai Thambiran.
(3.) Ordinarily, a Kattalai is a specific endowment in respect of which it would be competent for the founder to prescribe the line of trustees for its management, and so, the property endowed for the performance of the Kattalai in question cannot be held to be transferred in trust to the trustee vesting the legal estate therein in him; such legal estate would vest in the deity itself. Thus, the position of the Kattalai trustee would normally be no more than that of a manager of a Hindu Religious Endowment. It, however, appears that Kattalais which are attached to Sri Thiyagarajaswami temple at Thiruvarur have been treated as constituting a slightly different category by the Madras High Court in Vythilinga Pandara Sannadhi vs. Somasundara Mudliar, ILR 17 Mad 199, but with that aspect of the matter, we are not concerned in the present appeal. In practice, a scheme appears to have been evolved that in regard to the various services in the temple in respect of which Kattalais had been endowed, the management of the allotted properties vested in separate trustees and in that sense, all the trustees administering separate Kattalais could be said to constitute a kind of corporation in which the management of the temple properties vested, each one of its members being in charge of particular items of properties the proceeds of which would be utilised or the performance of a specific Kattalai.;