Section 55 of the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act, 1959, gave the trustee of a temple the power to appoint the office holders or servants of the temple and also provided that, where the office or service is shall be the per person hereditary, next in the line of succession entitled to succeed. In only exceptional cases the trustee was entitled to depart from the principle of next-in-the line of succession, but even so, the trustee was under an obligation to appoint a fit person to perform the service after having due regard to the claims of the members of the family. Section 116(2) (xxili) of the Act gave power to the Government to make rules providing for the qualifications to be possessed by the officers and servants and their conditions of service. The State Government framed the Madras Hindu Religious Institutions (Officers and Servants) Service Rules, 1964. Rule 12 provided that an Archaka, whether hereditary or non-hereditary whose duty it is to perform Pujas, shall, before succeeding to the office or appointment to the office, obtain a certificate of fitness for performing the duties of his office from E the head of an institution imparting instructions in Agamas on from the head of a math recognised by the Commissioner or from such other person as may be designated by the Commissioner.

The Act was amended by the Amending Act of 1970. The Amending Act did away with the hereditary right of succession to the office of Archaka. The petitioners who were Archakes of Saivite and Vaishnavite temples and Mathadhipatis to whose Maths temples are attached filed writ petitions in this Court contending that the amendments violated Arts. 25 and 26 of the Constitution.