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[4]
શ્રી અંતરિક્ષ
No conflict could be more complete and eleborate. Each of the two sects asserted an exclusive property in the temple and idol, witb a right of management entirely uncontrolled Joint control imposed by the one sect upon the other was a suggestion foreign to the cases of both. It was the common position as pleaded that the period of association, su vaguely referred to by both contestants, in no way impinged upon the absolute and exclusive rights claimed by each of them. The association as put forward on both sides was no more than a temporary arrangement that could at any time be brought to an end by those who by invitation had brought it into being. The vital importance of these identical pretensions will emerge in the sequel.
The cases so put forward were litigated at great length and over many years, first in the court of the Additional District Judge of Akola, and on appeal before the learned Judicial Commissioner of the Central Provinces. At the trial, many witnesses were called on both sides and many exhibits produced; 600 of these were put in on the plaintiffs' side alone. In the result, on the cases so made, the findings of both courts are concurrent and are expressed in judgements of great elaboration and meticulous care. Broadly, the findings are in favour of the Swetambaris. These had all along been in actual management