TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1982 (11) TMI 169
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.... JUDGEMENT CHINNAPPA REDDY, J. I have the good fortune of having before me the scholarly judgment of my brother Misra J., I agree with my brother Misra, J that the Writ Petitions must fail. With much that he has said, also, I agree. But with a little, to my own lasting regret, I do not agree. It is, therefore, proper for me to explain the points of my disagreement. Quite a considerable part of the hearing of the petitions was devoted to a debate on the question, what is Religion? Religion: Everyone has a religion, or at least, a view or a window on religion, be he a bigot or simple believer, philosopher or pedestrian, atheist or agnostic. Religion, like 'democracy' and 'equality' is an elusive expression, which everyone understands according to his pre- conceptions. What is religion to some is pure dogma to others and what is religion to others is pure superstition to some others. Karl Marx in his contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Law described religion as the 'Opium of the people'. He said further "Basically religion is a very convenient sanctuary for bourgeois thought to flee to in times of stress. Bertrand Russell, in his essay 'Why I am not Christia....
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....on is much more than a mere bond uniting people. Quite obviously, again, religion is not to be confined to the traditional, established, well-known or popular religions like Hinduism, Mahomedanism, Buddhism and Christianity. There may be and, indeed, there are, in this vast country, several religions, less known or even unknown escept in the remote corners or in the small pockets of the land where they may be practised. A religion may not be wide-spread. It may have little following. It may not have even a name, as indeed most tribal religions do not have. We may only describe them by adding the suffix 'ism' to the name of the founder-teacher, the tribe, the area or the deity. The nomenclature is not of the essence. Again, a band of persons, large or small, may not be said to be adherents of a religion merely because they share some common beliefs and common interests and practise common rites and ceremonies; nor can pietistic recitation and solemn ritual combine to produce religion, on that account only. Secret societies dedicated to secular tasks and indulging in queer oaths and observances, guilds and groups of persons who meet but to dine and wine but who subject their membe....
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....n accordance with law.Art. 27 prohibits compulsion for payment of taxes for promotion of any particular religion. Art. 28 bars religious instruction in any institution wholly maintained out of State funds and prevents compulsion to attend any religious instruction or religious worship in educational institutions recognised by the State or receiving aid out of State funds. Apart from Articles 25 to 28, the word 'religion' occurs in Arts. 15(1), 15(2), 16(2), 16(5), 23(2), 29(2) and 30 of the Constitution. Art. 15(1) prescribes that the State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them. Art. 15(2) provides, in particular, that no citizen shall, on ground only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them, be subject to any disability, liability restriction or condition with regard to access to shops, public restaurants, hotels and places of public entertainment; or the use of wells, tanks, bathing ghats, roads and places of public resort maintained wholly or partly out of State funds or dedicated to the use of the general public. Art.16(2) guarantees that no citizen shall, on grounds o....
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.... religion, but saves laws regulating or restricting any economic, financial, political or other secular activity which may be associated with religious practice. Reading Art. 25 in the background of the proclamation regarding Liberty in the Preamble to the Constitution, we may safely conclude that the Constitution views religion, as comprising thought, expression, belief, faith or worship, as involving the conscience and as something which may be professed, practised and propagated and which is any man's attribute in the same manner as race, sex language, residence etc. We also see that economic, financial, political or other secular activity may be associated with religious practice though such activity is not covered by the guarantee of freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practise and propagate religion. So, the Constitution considers Religion as a matter of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship, a matter involving the conscience and a matter which may be professed, practised and propagated by anyone and which may even have some secular activity associated with it. We have already said that any Freedom or Right involving the conscience must naturally r....
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....son as neither precise nor adequate and went on to say, "Religion is certainly a matter of faith with individuals or communities and it is not necessarily theistic. There are well known religions in India like Buddhism and Jainism which do not believe in God or in any Intelligent First Cause. A religion undoubtedly has its basis in a system of beliefs or doctrines which are regarded by those who profess that religion as conducive to their spiritual well being, but it would not be correct to say that religion is nothing else but a doctrine or belief. A religion may not only lay down a code of ethical rules for its followers to accept, it might prescribe rituals and observavances, ceremonies and modes of worship which are regarded as integral parts of religion, and these forms and dress." Mukherjea,J., accepted the following observations of Latham, CJ in Vide Adelaide Company v. The Commonwealth(1), as fully applicable to the protection of religion as guaranteed by the Indian Constitution: "It is sometimes suggested in discussions on the subject of freedom of religion t....
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....n of that religious denomination. The meaning of the word denomination was culled out from the Oxford Dictionary where it has been defined to mean 'a collection of individuals classed together under the same name. a religious sect or body having a common faith and organisation and designated by a distinctive name". Reference was then made to "a galaxy of religious teachers and philosophers who founded the different sects and sub- sects of the Hindu religion that we find in India at the present day". It was emphatically stated that each one of such sects or sub-sects could certainly be called a religious denomination as it was designated by a distinctive name-in many cases it was the name of the founder-and had a common faith and common spiritual organisation. It was observed," the followers of Ramanuja, who are known by the name of Shri Vaishnobas, undoubtedly constitute a religious denomination; and so do the followers of Madhwacharya and other religious teachers. It is a fact well-established by tradition that the eight Udipi Maths were founded by Madhwacharya himself and the trustees and the beneficiaries of these Maths profess to be followers of that teacher. The High Court has....
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....al part. Otherwise, it was pointed out, even purely secular practices which were not an essential or an integral part of religion were apt to be clothed with a religious form and stake a claim for treatment as religious practices. Mukherjea J's definition of 'religious denomination' in the Shirur Mutt case was also accepted and the case was permitted to be argued on the broad and general ground that the Chishtia Soofies constituted either a religious denomination or a section of a religious denomination. In Tilkayat Shri Govindlalji Maharaj v. The State of Rajasthan and Ors.(1) the question was whether the famous Nath Dwara Temple was a public temple? It was held that it was a public temple. It was assumed that the followers of Vallabha constituted a religious denomination. In Raja Virakishore v. State of Orissa(2)-one of the arguments sought to be advanced before the Supreme Court was that the worshippers of Lord Jagan Nath constituted a religious denomination and that the Shri Jagan Nath Temple Act, which took away the right of management from the denomination, contravened the Fundamental Right guaranteed by Art. 26 (d) of the Constitution. The answer of the State was that the....
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..... He may have merely protested against some rituals and observances; he may have disagreed with the interpretation of some earlier religious tenets. What he said, what he preached and what he taught, his protest, his dissent, his disagreement might have developed into a religion in the course of time, even during his life-time. He may be against religion itself, yet, history and the perception of the community may make a religion out of what was not intended to be a religion and he may be hailed as the founder of a new religion. There are the obvious examples of Buddhism and Jainism and for that matter Christianity itself. Neither Buddha nor Mahavira, nor Christ ever thought of founding a new religion, yet three great religions bear their names. If the word 'religion' is once explained, though with some difficulty, the expression 'religious denomination' may be defied with less difficulty. As we mentioned earlier Mukherjea J, borrowed the meaning of the word denomination from the Oxford Dictionary and adopted it to define religious denomination as "a collection of individuals classed together under the same name, a religious sect or body having a common faith and organisation and d....
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....ed the philosophy of cosmic salvation through spiritual evolution, a divine existence that will appear through the development of the "agnostic man" to usher in a transcendant spiritual age in which man and the universe are destined to become divine". The Encyclopaedia goes on to say, "he devoted himself for the rest of his life solely to the development of his unique philosophy. There (at Pondicherry) he founded an ashrama (retreat) as an international cultural centre for spiritual development, attracting students from all over the world. The only requirement for entrance was a sincere wish to develop spiritually." "According to Aurobindo's theory of cosmic salvation, the paths to union with Brahman are two-way streets, or channels, Enlightment comes to man from above, while the spirital mind (supermind) of man strives through logic illumination to reach up-ward from below. When these two forces blend in an individual, agnostic man is created. This logic illumination transcends both reason and intuition and eventually leads to the freeing of the individual from the bonds of individuality and, by extension all mankind ....
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....ttitudes of Christian theism." The Dictionary of Comparative Religion says of Aurobindo : "According to Aurobindo, there is a progressive evolution of the divine being through matter to higher spiritual forms, and the Aurobindo movement is held to represent vanguard of this evolutionary process in our own times. Aurobindo practised and taught an `integral yoga' in which meditative and spiritual exercises are integrated with physical, cultural and intellectual pursuits." Frederic Spiegelberg, in his book `Living Religions of the World' refers to Shri Aurobindo : "We pass beyond specific religions to a synthetic vision of the religious impulse itself, a vision designed to embrace all previous and future history all previous and future paths. Shri Aurobindo is a man worshipped by hundreds of thousands and respected by millions............ In his retreat at Pondicherry he is less the philosopher of Hinduism than the philosopher of religion in general, the voice of that which comparative religion leaves undisputed." On the topic Religion....
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....s disciples and followers, but religious leaders all the world over and of all faiths. If the followers of Shri Aurobindo constitute a `religious denomination', as, to my mind, they undoubtedly do, the members of Shri Aurobindo Society are certainly a distinct and identifiable section of the `religious denomination'. The members of the society are followers and disciples of Shri Aurobindo. The society was formed to preach and propagate the beliefs and ideals of Shri Aurobindo. The primary object of the society was "To make known to the members of the public in general the aims and ideals of Shri Aurobindo and the Mother, their system of Integral Yoga and to work for its fulfilment in all possible ways and for the attainment of a spiritualised society as envisaged by Shri Aurobindo." It is nobody's case that this is not the principal object of the society or that it is only a facade for other activities. However, it was argued that the Society had represented itself as, `a non- political, non-religious organisation' and claimed exemption from income tax on the ground that it was engaged in educational, cultural and scientific research. If the society consists of the disciples and....
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....e management of Auroville, it is necessary to take over, for a limited period, the management, thereof and any delay in taking over the management of Auroville would be highly detrimental to the interests and objectives of Auroville; The long preamble itself explains what Auroville is. S. 3(c) of the Act defines Auroville as meaning "so much of the undertakings as form part of, or are relatable to, the township which is known as Auroville and the charter of which proclaimed by the `Mother' on the 23rd day of February, 1968". Now, the idea of Auroville was conceived by Madame M. Alfasse, affectionately and respectfully known to the disciples and followers of Shri Aurobindo as the Mother. The idea of a cultural township which would promote international understanding and world peace had great appeal to the Government of India and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation and they extended their support to the project. But, things turned out to be not so smooth-sailing after all. There was dissension among the members of the Shri Aurobindo Society. Things came to such a pass that the impugned Act was necessitated. Misra J. has narrated the facts leadin....
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....property of a religious denomination is different from the right of the religious denomination to manage its own affairs in matters of religion and that laws may be made which regulate the right to administer the property of a religious denomination. Questions merely relating to administration of properties belonging to a religious group or institution are not matters of religion to which clause (b) of Art. 26 applies. It has been so decided in the Shirur Mutt case as well as other cases following it. We are, therefore, of the view that the Auroville Emergency Provisions Act which provides for the taking over the management of Auroville for a limited period does not offend the rights guaranteed by Arts. 25 and 26 of the Constitution. A passing reference was also made in the course of argument to Arts 29 and 30 of the Constitution, and it was said that the rights guaranteed by those Articles were also infringed. We are entirely at a loss to understand how the rights guaranteed by Arts. 29 and 30 can be said to have been infringed by the Auroville Emergency Provisions Act. No section of citizens having a culture of its own has been denied the right to conserve that culture and no ....
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....e been agitating the mind of seers and philosophers viz., Where did the world come from ? Was it created or evolved ? Is there any unity in diversity ? Each thinker tried to solve the ultimate problems in his own way. By and large they believed there is a real creative force behind the process of the world. Some called it as God, the others as ultimate truth, the conscience. According to some the objects, if left to themselves, would remain motionless and for their initial movement they must have required some external agency which might have set the universal ball rolling. In early ages when man knew little about the laws of nature, he attributed all changes in nature to certain agencies, which due partly to his egocentric way of viewing things and partly to his conscious or sub-conscious awareness of the supremacy of man in the whole hierarchy of things in nature, were conceived after the image of man. Later on, in view of the supremacy of kings in all walks of life and their services to society, these unseen mighty agencies were fashioned specifically after them. Since God was conceived to be the supreme among such agencies. He naturally was sought to be represented by the su....
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....to 1910 were stormy ones for Sri Aurobindo as he embarked on a course of action to free India from British rule. As a result of his political activities and revolutionary literary efforts he was sent to jail in 1908. Two years later he fled from British India to refuge in the French Mandate of Pondicherry (modern Pondicherry) in South-East India. He took a decision to give up all political activities so as to concentrate himself with the life of meditation and yoga at Pondicherry. Madam M. Alfassa, a French Lady, who came to be known as 'The Mother' became a disciple of Sri Aurobindo. Very soon more and more disciples came to join him from various parts of India and abroad and thus 'the Ashram' came into being. The disciples and devoted followers of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother with a view to propagate and practise the ideals and beliefs of Sri Aurobindo formed a Society called Sri Aurobindo Society in the year 1960. The petitioner Society at all material times was and is still a Society duly registered under the provisions of the West Bengal Societies Registration Act, 1961. This Society is completely distinct from Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry. The Society was established and r....
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....ety has been a channel of funds for setting up the cultural township known as Auroville. At the initiative of the Government of India, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation being of the opinion that the Auroville project would contribute to international understanding and promotion of peace sponsored the project by proposing a resolution to this effect at its General Conference in 1966. This resolution was unanimously adopted at this Conference. By a further resolution passed in 1961 the UNESCO invited its member States and international non-governmental organisations to participate in the development of Auroville as an international cultural township to bring together the values of different cultures and civilisations in a harmonious environment with integrated living standards which correspond to man's physical and spiritual needs. 1970 UNESCO had directed its Director-General to take such steps as may be feasible, within the budgetary provisions to promote the development of Auroville as an important international cultural programme. Sri Aurobindo Society received large funds in the shape of grants from different organisations in India and abroa....
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.... be a silent spectator to the mismanagement of the project and intereine quarrels amongst its members, which if not checked could lead to the destruction of the project so nobly conceived. The Government, therefore, decided to issue a Presidential ordinance. After the filing of the writ petition the ordinance has now been replaced by the Auroville (Emergency Provisions) Act, 1980. The constitutional validity of the Act has been challenged on four grounds: 1. Parliament has no legislative competence to enact the impugned statute. 2. The impugned Act infringes Articles 25, 26, 29 and 30 of the Constitution. 3. The impugned Act is violative of Article 14 of the Constitution; and 4. The Act was mala fide. We take up the first ground first. According to Mr. Soli Sorabjee, counsel for petitioners, the Auroville (Emergency Provisions) Act, 1980, hereinafter referred to as the impugned Act, is a law relating to a matter in the State Legislative List and is, therefore, beyond the legislative competence of Parliament, hence unconstitutional and void. The impugned Act, according to him, provides for taking over the management of Auroville for a limited period from the Societ....
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....rpose of the impugned Act is to take away the management of Auroville from the Society and to bring it under the management of the Central Government under the provisions of the impugned Act. This process necessarily involves during the takeover period the suspension of the provisions of the West Bengal Act and the memorandum and rules in so far as they are applicable to the management of the Auroville by the Society. Consequently, the impugned Act for a limited period abrogates, suspends or temporarily repeals certain provisions of the West Bengal Act or in other words the State Act is pro tanto overborne by the Central Act. Therefore, the question arises whether Parliament has legislative competence to repeal, permanently or temporarily, any provisions of the West Bengal Act which is a law made by the State Legislature in the exercise of its exclusive legislative competence under Entry 32 of the State Legislative List. It was contended for the petitioners that the legislature has no authority to repeal statutes which it could not directly enact. The power to repeal or alter the statute is co-extensive with the power of direct legislation of a legislative body. In support of th....
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....scientific, religious and other societies and associations; co-operative societies." Entry 44, List I: "Incorporation, regulation and winding up of corporations, whether trading or not, with objects not confined to one State, but not including universities." For the petitioners, however, it was urged that the registration of the Society under the West Bengal Act does not make it a corporation. Halsbury's Laws of England, 3rd Edn., Vol. 9, p. 4, deals with corporations in the following terms: "A corporation aggregate has been defined as a collection of individuals united into one body under a special denomination, having perpetual succession under an artificial form, and vested by the policy of the law with the capacity of acting in several respects as an individual, particularly of taking and granting property, of contracting obligations and of suing and being sued, of enjoying privileges and immunities in common, and of exercising a variety of political rights, more or less extensive, according to the design of the institution or the powers conferred upon it, either at the time of the creation or at any subseque....
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....me of administration of the institution managed by it. The sections were later on modified by subsequent amendment. The society challenged the Act on the ground that it was beyond the legislative competence of the State legislature inasmuch as in substance it sought to substitute the provisions of the Societies Registration Act, 1860, a field of legislation which was exclusively within the competence of Parliament and in any case the Act in so far as it affected the powers of the trustees of charitable institutions could not be enacted without conforming to the requirements of Article 254. The contention was repelled and it was held by this Court, relying on the Board of Trustees, Ayurvedic and Unani Tibia College v. The State of Delhi (supra) that by registration under the Societies Registration Act a society does not acquire corporate status. It cannot also be said that the pith and substance of the Act relates to charities or charitable institutions or to trusts or trustees. It was further held that the true nature and character of the Act falls within the express legislative power conferred by entry 11 of List II and merely because it incidentally trenches upon or affects a cha....
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....vered by the West Bengal Act as it is in no way related to constitution, regulation and winding up of the Society In R.C. Cooper v. Union(1) it was laid down that a law relating to the business of a corporation is not a law with respect to regulation of a corporation. Having heard the counsel for the parties, our considered opinion is that the subject matter of the impugned Act is not covered by entry 32 of List II of the Seventh Schedule. Even if the subject matter of the impugned Act is not covered by any specific entry of List I or III of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution it would in any case be covered by the residuary entry 97 of List I. The Parliament, therefore, had the legislative competence to enact the impugned Act. This leads us to the second ground of attack, namely, the impugned Act is violative of Articles 25, 26, 29 and 30 of the Constitution. Article 25(1) confers freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practise and propagate religion. Of course, this right is subject to public order, morality and health and to the other Articles of Part III of the Constitution. Sub-clause (2) of this Article, however, provides that nothing in this Art....
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....Religion' is bond uniting man to God, and virtue whose purpose is to render God worship due him as source of all being and principle of all government of things. 'Religion' has reference to man's relation to divinity; to the moral obligation of reverence and worship, obedience and submission, It is the recognition of God as as object of worship, love and obedience; right feeling toward God, as highly apprehended. 'Religion' means the services and adoration of God or a god as expressed in forms of worship; an apprehension, awareness, or conviction of the existence of a Supreme Being; any system of faith, doctrine and worship, as the Christian religion, the religions of the orient; a particular system of faith or worship. The term 'religion' as used in tax exemption law, simply includes: (I) a belief, not necessarily referring to supernatural powers; (2) a cult, involving a gregarious association openly expressing the belief; (3) a system of moral practice directly resulting from an adherence to the belief; and (4) an organization within the cult designed to observe the tenets or belief, the content of such belief being of no moment. While 'religion' in its broadest sense in....
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....luding The Durgah Committee, Ajmer & Anr. v. Syed Hussain Ali & Ors(1) and can be regarded as well settled. The words "religious denomination" in Article 26 of the Constitution must take their colour from the word 'religion' and if this be so, the expression "religious denomination" must also satisfy three conditions: (1) It must be a collection of individuals who have a system of beliefs or doctrines which they regard as conducive to their spiritual well-being, that is, a common faith; (2) common organisation; and (3) designation by a distinctive name. In view of the propositions laid down by the Court in the aforesaid reported cases we have to examine the teachings of Sri Aurobindo to see whether they constitute a religion. It will be appropriate at this stage to succintly deal with the teaching of Sri Aurobindo. According to Sri Aurobindo there is a divine consciousness pervading the whole universe. A portion of this consciousness by a process. Of involution through various planes has finally resulted in the formation of the physical world, namely the stars, the planets, the earth and so on. Then came the reverse process of evolution i e., from stone to plant, ....
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....superman (synthesis). From these divine beings a divine universe is also evolved. The Divine, though one, has two aspects-one is static and the other dynamic. The dynamic side of the Divine is the energy or the creative side. People in the past realised only the static aspect of the Divine and did not know much of the dynamic side as it is much more difficult to realise it. For this reason, the purpose of the creation was not understood by them and they declared the world to be futile and deceptive. That means either the Divine was unable to make a perfect world and He had Do purpose in the creation or man has not been able to understand the same. Sri Aurobindo's yoga gives the full experience of both the aspects of the Divine, that is why he calls his Yoga the Integral Yoga or the Perfect Yoga. Sri Aurobindo says the Divine is real and His creation is bound to be real. He has shown to the world the purpose of the creation and has declared that the world is still in an imperfect condition passing through the transitory Period towards its perfection. Man is a creature of this world and he cannot know much of things other than this world. He has, however, a capacity in himself to ....
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.... than in an individual physical life. In the old Yogas the world was considered either an illusion or a transitional phase: it had no prospect of having all the terms of its existence fulfilled. Sri Aurobindo on the other hand says that the world is a real creation of the Divine and life in it can be completely divinised down to the very cells of the body. The kingdom of God on earth can be brought about in the most literal sense by a total transformation of collective man. To put it in Sri Aurobindo's words: "Here and not elsewhere the highest God head has to be found, the soul's divine nature developed out of the imperfect physical human nature and through unity with God and man and universe the whole large truth of being discovered and lived and made visibly wonderful. That completes the long cycle of our becoming and admits us to a supreme result; that is opportunity given to the soul by the human birth and until that is accomplished, it cannot cease." For this transformation a new power called the 'supermind' which was sealed to this earth till now is needed, F Shri Soli Sorabjee, for the petitioners, bas contended that the followers of Sri Aurobindo satisfy the aforesaid t....
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....(supra) is also based on the same ground. For the petitioners it was further submitted that Sri Aurobindo and the Mother were adverse to 'religion' as 'Religiosity" and "Religionism" but not lo "True Religion". Reference was made to various writings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother: Sri Aurobindo "In order to exceed our Nature and become divine, we must first get God, for we are the lower imperfect term of Our being. He is its higher perfect term, The finite to A become infinite, must know, have and touch infinity; the symbol being in order to become its own reality, must know, love and preceive that Reality. This necessarily is the imperative justification of religion; not of a church, creed or theology-for all these things are religiosity, not religion-but that personal and intimate religious temper and spirit which moves men to worship, to aspire to or to pant after his own idea of the supreme. (SABCV 17, p. 54-55) "It is true in a sense that Religion should be the dominant thing in life.. When it identifies with a creed or cult or system of ceremonial acts it may well become a retarding force There are t....
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....says, the Divine is like this, to find the Divine you must do this, make this particular gesture, take this attitude, perform this ceremony and you must admit that this is the truth, you must say "I accept that this is the Truth and I fully adhere to it; and your method is the only right one, the only one which exists"- if all that is written down, organised arranged into fixed laws and ceremonies, it becomes a religion. (MCV No. 8, p. 147) Sri Aurobindo "You express your faith in Sri Aurobindo with certain words, which are for you the best expression of this faith; this is quite all right. But if you are convinced that these very words are the only correct ones to express what Sri Aurobindo is, then you become dogmatic and are ready to create a religion." (Sri Aurobindo Circle 21 No. 1965) "That is why religions always blunder, always for they want to standardise the expression of an experience and impose it on all as an irrefutable truth. The experience was true, complete in itself, convincing-for him who had it. A The formulae he has made of it is excellent-for him; but to want to impose it on others is a gross error which bas altogether disasterous consequences- always....
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....heism." The Encyclopaedia Brittanica talking about Sri Aurobindo says: "Sri Aurobindo devoted himself to discover the way by which the Universe might be made divine...Sri Aurobindo has been acclaimed as the prophet of the Superman, as the hierophant of the 'new age'......He has called his stand point that of a spiritual religion of humanity." The Dictionary of Comparative Religion (1970 ed., p. 117) mentions: "According to Aurobindo, there is a progressive evolution of the divine Being through matter no higher spiritual forms, and the Aurobindo movement is held to represent vanguard of this evolutionary process in our own times. Aurobindo practised and taught an 'integral yoga' in which meditative and spiritual exercises are integrated with physical, cultural and intellectual pursuits." Encyclopaedia Americana (1966 Vol. 12, p. 634) states: "He (Sri Aurobindo) abandoned politics to found a religious school(1910) at Pondicherry. A practising Yoga philosopher, he wrote numerous spiritual and mystical works." The Gazetteer of India, published by the Government of India, Vol. 1, Country and People, Chapter 8....
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....reated as religion by theologians and by professors and by important news agencies. The interpretations of the term 'religion' used in different Acts were also referred to but it is not necessary to refer to them as we are to interpret the term 'religion' and 'religious denomination, with references to Articles 25 and 26 of the Constitution. Mr. S. Rangarajan appearing for the petitioners in one of the other writ petitions substantially adopted the contentions raised by Mr. Soli Sorabjee and further supplemented the same by raising the following points. According to him the ingredients of religion are . (1) A spiritual ideal; (2) A set of concepts or precepts on God-Man relationship underlying the ideal: (3) A methodology given or evolved by the founder or followers of the religion to achieve the ideal; and (4) A definite following of persons having common faith in the precepts and concepts; and in order to constitute a 'religious denomination' two further ingredients are needed: (5) The followers should have a common organisation; (6) They should be designated and designable by a distinct name-This may usually be the name of the founder himself. The counsel co....
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....Auroville a religious denomination, and in any case there is no violation of Article 26 of the Constitution inasmuch as the impugned Act has taken over only the management of Auroville from the Society and does not interfere with the freedom contemplated by Articles 25 and 26 of the Constitution. . H Reference was made to rule 9 of the Rules and Regulations of Sri Aurobindo Society, which deals with membership of the Society and provides: "9. Any person or institution or organisation either in India or abroad who subscribes to the aims and objects of the Society, and whose application for member ship is approved by the executive Committee, will be member of the Society. The membership is open to people everywhere without any distinction of nationality, religion, caste, creed or sex." The only condition for membership is that the person seeking the membership of the Society must subscribe to the aims and objects of the Society. It was further urged that what is universal cannot be a religious denomination. In order to constitute a separate denomination, there must be something distinct from another. A den....
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....s tranquilizing effect on body and mind, ultimately leading to the greater goal of Cosmic Consciousness or universal awareness, has been studied by using over a hundred parameters. Transcendental Meditation practised for IS minutes in the morning and evening every day brings about a host of beneficial effects. To name only a few: 1. Body and mind get into a state of deep relaxation. 2. B.M.R. drops, loss oxygen is consumed. F 3. E.E.G. shows brain wave coherence with 'alpha' wave preponderance. 4. Automatic stability increases. G 5. Normalisation of high blood pressure. 6. Reduced use of alcohol and tobacco. 7. Reduced stress, hence decreased plasma cortisol and blood lactate. H 8. Slowing of the heart etc." This Court dealing with punishment in a criminal case in Giasuddin v. A . P. State([1978] 1 SCR 153 @ 164) again observed: "There is a spiritual dimension to the first page of our Constitution which projects into penology. Indian courts may draw inspiration from Patanjali sutra even as they derive punitive patterns from the Penal Code (most of Indian meditational therapy is based on the sutras of Patanjali). on the strength of these authorities ....
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....onious environment. The foundation stone of Auroville was laid on 28 February 1968 with the participation of youth or many nations, representing the coming together of all Nations in a spirit of human unity. The UNESCO conceived Auroville township as an instrument of education, promoting mutual respect and understanding between people in keeping with the spirit of Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Universal Declaration of Principles of International Cultural Cooperation. The Government of India took active part in making the 1 UNESCO interested in the project and take decision as aforesaid for the development of Auroville as an international cultural township with the participation of countries who are members of the UNESCO. Sri Aurobindo Society had brought the proposal of Auroville to the Government of India and explained that Auroville was to be an international cultural township. This fact is evident from the brochure submitted by Sri Aurobindo Society to the Government of India. The Charter of Auroville given by the Mother also indicates that it is not a religious institution, as is evident from the following: F "1. Auroville belongs to nobody in particular....
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....lf and consciousness concealed within each human being, a higher evolution of the nature." Sri Aurobindo himself said(1): "I may say that it is far from my purpose to propagate any religion, new or old." Sri Aurobindo says again(2): "We are not a party or a church or religion," Sri Aurobindo exposes(3): "Churches and creeds have, for example, stood violently in the way of philosophy and science, burned a Giordano Bruno, imprisoned a Galileo, and so generally misconducted themselves in this matter that philosophy and science had a self-defence to turn upon Religion and rend her to pieces in order to get a free field for their legitimate development." The Mother said on 19.3.1973: "Here we do not have religion." Sri Aurobindo says again(4): "Yogic methods have some thing of the same relation to the customary psychological workings of man as has to scientific handling of the natural force of electricity or of steam to the normal operations of steam and of electricity. And the, too are formed upon a knowledge developed and confirmed by reg....
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....donations etc.; to organise, encourage, promote and assist in the study, research, and pursuit of science literature and fine arts etc. Nowhere it talks of propagating religion. This is the surest index to know whether the Auroville or the Society was a religious A institution. It was further contended that a religious denomination must be professed by that body but from the very beginning the Society has eschewed the word 'religion' in its constitution. The Society professed to be a scientific research organisation to the donors and got income-tax exemption on the footing that it was not a religious institution. The Society has claimed exemption from income- tax under s. 80 for the donors and under s. 35 for itself on that ground. Ashram Trust was different from Auroville Ashram. The Ashram Trust also applied for income-tax exemption and got it on that very ground. So also Aurobindo Society claimed exemption on the footing that it was not a religious institution and got it. They professed to the Government also that they were not a religious institution in their application for financial assistance under tho Central Scheme of Assistance to voluntary Hindu organisations. On t....
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....The other thing that remains to be considered in regard to article 26 is, what is the scope of clause tb) of the article which speaks of management of its own affairs in matters of religion ? "The language undoubtedly suggests that there could be other affairs of a religious denomination or a section thereof which are not matters of religion and to which the guarantee given by this clause would not apply............ It will be seen that besides the right to manage its own affairs in matters of religion, which is given by clause (b), the next two clauses of article 26 guarantee to a religious denomination the right to acquire and own property and to administer such property in accordance with law. The administration of its property by a religious denomination has thus been placed on a different footing from the right to manage its own affairs in matters of A religion. The latter is a fundamental right which no legislature can take away, whereas the former can be regulated by laws which the legislature can validly impose. It is clear, therefore, that questions merely relating to administration of properties belonging to a religious group or institution are not matters of religion to ....
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....gis, filed a representative suit for a declaration that the relevant provisions of the Bombay Harijan Temple Entry Act, 1947 (as amended by Act 77 of 1948) did a not apply to their temples because, the religion of the Swaminarayan sect was distinct and different from Hindu religion and because, the relevant provisions of the Act were ultra vires. Dealing with the question this Court observed as will appear from the headnote: "The Indian mind has consistently through the ages been exercised over the problem of the nature of godhead, the problem that faces the spirit at the end of life, and the interrelation between the individual and the universal soul. According to Hindu religion the ultimate goal of humanity is release and freedom from the unceasing cycle of births and rebirths and a state of absorption and assimilation of the individual soul with the infinites. On the means to attain this and there is a great divergence of views; some emphasise the importance of Gyana, while others extol the virtue of Bhakti or devotion, yet others insist upon the paramount importance of the performance of duties with a h....
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.... with reverance, recognition of the fact that the path of Bhakti or devotion leads to Moksha, insistence or devotion to Lord Krishna and a determination to remove corrupt practices and restore Hindu religion to its original glory and purity. This shows unambiguously and unequivocally that Swaminarayan was a Hindu saint. Further, the facts that initiation is necessary to become a Satsangi, that persons of other religions could join the sect by initiation without any process of proselytising on such occasions, and that Swaminarayan himself is treated as a God, are not inconsistent with the basic Hindu religious and philosophic theory." In Digyadarsan Rajendra Ramdassji Varu v. State of Andfhra Pradesh and Anr.(1)dealing with Articles 25 and 26 of the Constitution this Court on the facts and circumstances of the case held: "It has nowhere been established that the petitioner has been prohibited or debarred from professing practising and propagating his religion. A good deal material has been placed on the record to show that the entire math is being guarded by police constables but that does not mean that the petitione....
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....ra Pradesh High Court held: "Thus it is the distinct common faith and common spiritual organisation and the belief in a particular religious teacher of philosophy on which the religious denomination is founded or based, that is the essence of the matter, but not any caste, or sub-caste or a particular deity worship by a particular caste or community." In United States v. Danial Andrew Seegar(2) the U.S. Supreme Court had to construe the provisions of s. 6(j) of the Universal Military Training and Service Act of 1948 which, as a prerequisite of exempting a conscientious objector from military service, requires l? his belief in a relation to a Supreme Being involving duties superior to those arising from any human relation. Defendant's claim to exemption as conscientious objector was denied after he, professing religious belief and faith and not disavowing, although not clearly demonstrating any belief in a relation to a Supreme Being, stated that "the cosmic order does, perhaps, suggest a creative intelligence" and decried the tremendous "spiritual" price man must pay for his willingness to destroy human life. The expression 'Supreme Being' was liberally construed. The Court d....
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....matters of religion. The latter is a fundamental right which no legislature can take away, whereas the former can be regulated by laws which the legislature can validly impose. It is clear, therefore, that questions merely relating to a religious group or institution are not matters of religion to which clause (b) of the article applies. The impugned Act had not taken away the right of management in matters of religion of a religious denomination, if the Society or Auroville is a religious denomination at all, rather it has taken away the right of management of the property of Auroville. Thus the impugned Act neither violates Article 25, nor Article 26 of the Constitution. The impugned Act was also feebly sought to be challenged as violating Arts. 29 and 30 of the Constitution. We are at a loss to understand how these two articles have any bearing on the impugned Act. These two articles confer four distinct rights: (i) Right of any section of citizens to conserve its own language, script or culture (Art. 29(1)). (ii) Right of all religious or linguistic minorities to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice (Art. 30(I)). (iii) Right of an educat....
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.... language and script of the minority community can be preserved, improved and strengthened. It is, therefore, that Art. 30(I) confers on all minorities, whether based on religion or language, the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice. The minorities, quite understandably, regard it as A essential that the education of their children should be in accordance with the teachings of their religion, and they hold, quite honestly, that such an education cannot be obtained in ordinary schools designed for all the members of the public but can only be secured in schools conducted under the influence and guidance of people well versed in the tenets of their religion and in the traditions of their culture. The minorities evidently desire that education should be imparted to the children of their community . in an atmosphere congenial to the growth of their culture. our Constitution makers recognised the validity of their claim and to allay their fears conferred on them the fundamental rights referred to above. But the conservation of the distinct languages, script or culture is not the only object of choice of the minority communities. They also desire ....
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....e test that it is regulative of the educational character of the institution and is conducive to making the institution an effective vehicle of education for the minority community or other persons who resort to it." In State of Kerala v. Mother Provincial(l) the provisions of the Kerala University Act, 1969 which was passed to reorganise the University of Kerala with a view to establishing a teaching, residential and affiliating University for the southern districts of the State of Kerala, were challenged. Some of the provisions effected private colleges, particularly those founded by minority communities in the State. Their constitutional validity was challenged by some members of those communities on various grounds in writ petitions filed in the High Court. This Court held: "The minority institutions cannot he allowed to fall below the standards of excellence expected of educational institutions, or under the guise of exclusive right of management, to decline to follow the general pattern. While the management must be left to them, they may be compelled to keep in step with others." On an analysis of the two articles, Art. ....
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....ngaged in educational, cultural and scientific activities and social sciences research. It was on this understanding that the exemption from income-tax was granted to the Society and it is through this exemption that the Society, had collected a huge amount from the public. For the first few years the development of Auroville showed a remarkable progress and development and things were growing at a rapid pace. A number of Indians and foreigners settled down in Auroville and devoted themselves to various activities of planning, designing, agriculture, education, construction and other works such as those of hand-made paper and other crafts and industries. A remarkable harmony among members of Auroville was visible and this gave a promise to the Government of India of an early fulfillment of the ideals for which Auroville was established and encouraged by UNESCO and other international organisations of the world. After the passing away of the Mother in 1973, however, the situation changed and the Government received information that the affairs of the Society were not being properly managed, that there was mismanagement of the funds of the Society and diversion of the funds meant ....
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....nnected with the Auroville Project may be made by a team of competent auditors. Considering the special position of Auroville as a cultural township of international importance, the substantial grants of the order of more than Rs. 90 lakhs given by the Government of India and the State Governments towards the fulfillment of the ideals of Auroville, the presence of a large number of foreigners in Auroville who had left their hearth and home for Auroville which had received sponsorship from Indian Government and UNESCO, the continued groupism and infighting which was bringing bad name to Auroville and the special responsibility of the Government of India in regard p to the foundation and development-of Auroville, the Government of India decided to set up a committee under the Chairmanship of the Lt. Governor of Pondichery with the Chief Secretary of the Tamil Nadu and Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs as members by a resolution of the Ministry of Home Affairs Government of India, dated 21st December, 1976. The above Committee got a quick audit made of the funds of the Society and the grants given to the Society for Auroville through a team of competent auditors.....
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....from the State Bank of India-resulting in an expenditure of interest charge of Rs. 9561.40 which was held to be inadmissible and an irregularity. Although the Society completed construction of Health Centre in Dec. 1973 at a total cost of over Rs. 2 lacs and the Health Centre started functioning from Dec. 1973 the Society had not furnished the utilisation certificates in the prescribed form nor was the completion report duly certified by the PWD authorities Rs. One lac was stated to have been received for the Project of World University"-and the money was stated to be utilised. There is no such World University in Auroville. A difference of Rs. 1,29,848/- was noticed in the case of the value of a piece of land purchased-the value of the land said to have been purchased and not entered in the register was Rs. 88,5261/-and the amount said to have been paid in excess of the value for the land actually purchased was Rs. 31,322. The operation of purchase of lands was through individuals who were given huge sums of money as advances. It was noticed that in one transaction an amount of Rs. 43,250/-representing the balance out of advance paid to one V. Sunderamurthy was adjusted a....
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....ossible to A verify from the records that the moneys which were shown as having been spent for purchase of materials were really paid in exchange of the materials of the required quantity and quality and whether the material purchased was actually received by the project, whether the quantity which was shown as having been utilised for the construction has been actually so utilised and the balance of stores which represented by the value was the real balance representing the various stock items. Huge amounts of cash were being handled by persons operating the main account and the number of individuals who were given advances-there was no system under which cash could be verified at any interval. Even apart from the audit report, one very important point may be mentioned. The Society has been claiming that they have been holding more than Rs. 20 lacs in reserve in the account of Aurobindo Society to meet their obligations with regard to Auroville. And yet the Society has incurred heavy debts in the name of Auroville and allocated huge accumulation of interest to the extent of Rs. 20 lacs." The Committee came to the conclusion that the time was ripe for taking recourse two eith....
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....ovember, 1980. Mr. K. K. Venugopal, appearing for the petitioners, however, referred to the decision of the respective Ministries on the audit report. During October-November, 1979, he contended the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Home Affairs took decision on six major points. One of the points on which decision was taken was that there were no legal grounds for takeover of Auroville and neither the Government was interested. This decision, among others was later on endorsed by the respective Union Ministers. The report submitted by Mr. P. P. Srivastava, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, who visited Pondichery and Auroville on a fact finding mission from 8th to 10th October, 1980, contained the following A observations: "All along the view of the Ministry of Home Affairs has been that there is no case of takeover of the administration of Auroville. This is an internal matter and the Government need not interfere. The Government of Tamil Nadu should be asked to depute two officers to help the Shri Aurobindo Society for administering the finances and the administration." The contention of Mr. Venugopa....
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....class. The C: situation prevailing in the Auroville had converted the dream of the Mother into a nightmare. There had arisen acute law and order situation in the Auroville, numerous cases were pending against various foreigners, the funds meant for the Auroville had been diverted towards other purposes and the atmosphere was getting out of hand. In the circumstances the Government intervened and promulgated the ordinance and later on substituted it by the impugned enactment. It cannot be said that it is violative of Article 14 on that account. We get support for our view from the following decisions. In Budhan Chowdhury v. The State of Bihar(l) a Constitution Bench of seven Judges of this Court explained the true meaning and scope of Article 14 as follows: "It is now well established that while article 14 forbids class legislation, it does not forbid reasonable classification for the purposes of legislation. In order, however, to pass the test of permissible classification two conditions must be fulfilled, namely (i) that the classification must be founded on an intelligible differentia which distinguishes persons or things that are grouped together from others left out of the grou....
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...." In Ram Prasad Narayan Sahi and Anr. v. The State of Bihar and ors.(l) the Court of Wards had granted to the appellant a large area of land belonging to the Bettiah Raj which was then under the management of the Court of Wards, on the recommendation of the Board of Revenue, at half the usual rates. The Bihar Legislature passed an Act called the Sathi Lands (Restoration) Act, 1950 which declared that, notwithstanding anything contained in any law for the time being in force the settlement granted to the appellants shall be null and void and that no party to the settlement or his successors in interest shall be deemed to have acquired any right or incurred any liability thereunder, and empowered the Collector to eject the appellants if they refused to restore the lands. The appellants challenged the constitutionality of the Act under Article 226. This Court held: "The dispute between the appellants and the State was really a private dispute and a matter to be determined by a judicial tribunal in accordance with the law applicable to the case, and, as the Legislature had, in passing the impugned enactment ....
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....tatutes in question".. In Charanjit Lal v. Union of India (1950 SCR 869) a separate law enacted for one company was held not to offend Art. 14 of the Constitution on the ground that there were special reasons for passing legislation for that company." When that case came up in appeal to this Court at the instance of the son of the petitioner, in Raja Birakishore v. The State of Orrisa(2) this Court held: "There is no violation of Art. 14 of the Constitution. The Jagannath Temple occupies a unique position in the State of Orrisa and is a temple of national importance and no other temple in that State can compare with it. It stands in a class by itself and considering the fact that it attracts - pilgrims from all over India, in large numbers, it could be the subject of special consideration by the State Government. A law may be constitutional even though it related to a single individual if on account of special circumstances or reasons applicable to him and not applicable to others, that single individual may be treated as a class by himself." It was next contended that there were provisions in the Societies Registration Act itself to meet the situation arising in Auroville. T....
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....nted out by the parties fully justified the promulgation of the ordinance and the passing of the enactment. Of course, each party tried to apportion the blame on the other. Whosoever be responsible, the fact remains that the prevailing situation in the Auroville was far from satisfactory. The amount donated for the construction of the cultural township Auroville and other institutions was to the tune of Rs. 3 crores. It was the responsibility of the Government to see that the amount was not mis-utilised and the management was properly carried out. So, the basis of the argument that the facts as pointed out in the preamble were non-est is not correct. Mr Venugopal tried to explain the various adverse remarks made by the auditors. On a perusal of the audit report, which is a voluminous one, all we can say is that on the facts found by the audit committee, the report is rather a mild one. There seems to be serious irregularities in the accounts. A substantial amount received by way of donations had not been properly spent, there being mis-utilisation and diversion of the funds. The Attorney-General appearing for the Union of India contended that even assuming for the sake of arg....