A few villagers from Munneswaram village filed a case in the Chilaw district courts to prevent the land grab of temple properties by outsiders. The case resulted in the British colonial government accepting temple properties as belonging to a newly created temple trust. The trust came under the control of one Cumaraswamy Kurukal from Colombo. His family maintains the hereditary priestly position of the Siva temple, and controls all temple properties. A Tamil family from Munneswaram village controls the priestly position of the Kali temple. The Siva temple was renovated in 1875 by the personal efforts of Cumaraswamy Kurukal. Improvements were effected again in 1919 and 1963 through public support from Tamil Hindus from Colombo and Jaffna. The temple has become very popular amongst the Sinhalese and they make up over 78% of the pilgrims to both the Siva and Kali temples.