Indian Kanoon - Search engine for Indian Law

The records disclose that, at any rate from the middle of the last century, there have been disputes between the various Jeers and others as regards the order of priority in which certain honours have to be distributed among the said Jeers when they attend the temple of Sri Athinathalwar for worship. In the ghoshties (group of worshipers in front of the deity) both on ordinary and special days the said Jeers are shown honours befitting their rank. The honours consist of distribution of theertham, thulasi, satari and viniyogam, and a few more similar items. Each of the said Jeers is allotted a particular place in the ghoshti and a certain order of precedence is observed inter se between them. This order of precedence in the matter of receiving honours has become an unending source of bickering between the religious heads; with the result, the Madras Hindu Religious Endow- ments Board, constituted under Act 1 of 1923, with jurisdiction to administer the endowments in the Madras State, had to interfere and settle the disputes inter se between the various Jeers. On May 12, 1927, the said Board fixed the order of precedence for honours between the various Jeers to be observed both on ordinary and special days. By the said order the Board recognized the Emberumanar Jeer's right to the honours and perquisites in precedence over the other Jeers on all the days other than Vaikasi festival days, except the 7th day, and as regards the other days of the festival, namely, 1st to 6th and 8th to 10th days, the Board directed that the other Jeers should be shown on the respective days both the ordinary and special honours in precedence over the rest of the Jeers, including the Emberumanar Jeer. Not satisfied with the said order, the Emberumanar Jeer filed O. S. No. 320 of 1933 in the Court of the District Munsif, Tirunelveli, which was later transferred to the Court of the Subordinate Judge, Tuticorin, as O. S. No. 45 of 1945, against the other Jeers and the Hindu Religious Endowments Board, for the declara- tion of his right to the first theertham and other per- quisites in precedence over all the others in the ghoshties of Sri Athinathalwar temple on the ground that he was entitled to them as the office-holder of the, temple of Emberumanar. Subsequent to the filing of the suit, the Board, by its order dated May 15, 1935, altered the order of precedence giving the Vanamamalai Jeer precedence over the Emberumanar Jeer; and this led to the Emberumanar Jeer filing another suit O. S. No. 201 of 1941 in the Court of the District Munsif, Srivaikuntam, for a declaration of his right to the first theertham, etc., in precedence over all the others. This suit was later transferred to the Court of the Subordinate Judge, Tuticorin as O. S. No. 46 of 1945, to be tried along with O. S. No. 45 of 1945. To the suits the Emberumanar Jeer, the Vanamamalai Jeer, the Ahobilam Jeer and the Tirukkurungudi Jeer, and the Executive Officer of the Hindu Religious Endowments Board were made parties. These suits have had a chequered career. But we shall briefly refer only to those stages of the long drawn litigation which have some bearing on the questions raised in the present appeals. O. S. No. 320 of 1933 was finally numbered as O. S. No. 66 of 1936 and was disposed of on March 25, 1941, by the District Munsif, Tirunelveli. The learned District Munsif dismissed the suit on the ground that it was not maintainable as the plaintiff had no legal right in respect of which he could seek relief in a civil court. On appeal, the learned Subordinate Judge, Tirunelveli, came to the conclusion that, as the plaintiff had come to court to establish his right of precedence to receive the theertham, etc., as forming part of the emoluments of his office of aradanaikar in the suit temple, the suit could not be dismissed on the preliminary ground that it was barked under s. 9 of the Code of Civil Procedure; on that basis, he set aside the decree of the District Munsif and remanded the case for trial on other issues arising in the case. Both the parties preferred appeals to the High Court of Madras and they were numbered as C. M. As. Nos. 1 and 155 of 1943; on January 31,1945, Chandrasekara Aiyar, J., dismissed both the appeals. The learned Judge propounded alternative theories, and he expressed himself thus:

He concluded thus:

"Such honours and -emoluments cannot in any respect be considered as remuneration for duties or ministrations performed by the plaintiff in the secular affairs or religious services of the pagoda."

(1) (1863) 1 M.H.C.R. 301,3o6.

This decision, which has stood the test of time, clearly lays down that a suit to enforce the rights of persons holding offices connected with the management and regulation of temples and for honours and emoluments connected therewith would lie in a civil court; but a suit by a plaintiff, who does not hold an office in the temple, claiming honours customarily shown to him as a matter of devotional respect and display due to his rank is not of a civil nature. The principle laid down in this case and restated in subsequent cases has been applied by a division bench of the Madras High Court to a claim for first theertham, etc., in Sri Rungachariar v. Rungasami Buttachar (1). That decision was given in an appeal arising out of a suit for a declaration that the plaintiffs had a hereditary miras right to the offices of Sthalathar, Kutumba First Theertham, Muntrapushpam, Vedaparayanam and Adyapakam from times immemorial in the temple of Sri Parimala Ranga- nathaswami at Tiruvilandur, and, by virtue of such right, were entitled to a fourth share of the honours and emoluments due to their offices as detailed in schedule A of the plaint. The learned Judges, on the evidence, came to the following conclusion:

I would therefore respectfully confine the decision in Sri Bungachariar v. Bungaswami Buttachar(1) to cases in which the receiving of the first theertham by an office-holder has become indissoluble part of the ritual to b e performed by the recipient as an office-holder and the extension of the principle should be carefully guarded against."

These are weighty observations and if they were appropriate in the year 1913 they should be much more so in the year 1961. We respectfully accept these observations as laying down the correct proposition, namely, that a party claiming an honour like-first theertham, etc., has to prove not only that he is an office-holder of the temple and that he has been receiving the first theertham in the Ghoshti but also that the receipt of the first theertham, has become an integral part of the ritual to be performed by him as an officeholder; for, the receipt of the first theertham would be consistent with its being shown as a grace from the Lord and also as its being a part of the remuneration to the office. Another division bench of the Madras High Court in Vathiar Venkatachariar v. P. Ponappa Ayyengar (2) had to consider the question of a claim to a religious honour which consisted of receiving theerthams and prasadams in the temple in certain order of -precedence. This case also relates to Athinathalwar temple and to the question of precedence among the theerthakars. The first question raised was whether there was such an office as theertham office in the temple. Krishnan, J., delivering the leading judgment, in rejecting that there was such an office observed:

the present appeals. That writ petition was dismissed on the ground that the Board's order related to administrative matter and, therefore, a writ of certiorari would not lie to quash the same; but in the course, of the judgment, Pandurang Row, J., made certain relevant observations and they are:

"What was determined by the Board was the order of distribution of theertham and honours connected with theertham. This matter cannot in my opinion be regarded as a determination of any rights of subjects. The rights of subjects referred to in the rule are rights which can be legally enforced and not mere honours or precedence claimed or recognized as a matter of courtesy or usage. It is not seriously disputed that the right to obtain the theertham or honours in a particular order of precedence is not a civil right which can be enforced or declared in a Civil Court."