As per case facts, petitioners, claiming hereditary trusteeship of Arulmigu Agatheeswarar Temple, challenged the HR & CE Department's appointment of an Executive Officer/Fit Person, arguing the temple is private and ... a statutory suit on its character and trusteeship is pending. Despite a prior High Court order directing the department to recognize the first petitioner's legal heirs (petitioners 2 and 3) as hereditary trustees, the department failed to act on their applications and continued the Executive Officer's appointment. The High Court had explicitly mandated allowing such applications. The question arose whether the HR & CE Department could continue the Executive Officer/Fit Person's appointment and ignore hereditary succession claims while a statutory suit was pending and a direct High Court order for processing succession applications existed. Finally, the High Court ruled that the Fit Person's appointment was illegal and quashed the impugned orders. It directed the department to forthwith recognize petitioners 2 and 3 as hereditary trustees and restore temple management to them, pending final orders in the statutory suit. The court emphasized that the department had no discretion to deny succession.