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TaxTMI 
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TaxTMI 
2003 (3) TMI 703
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....e), the temple and the shops are property of his family and they do not belong to any public trust. Pandit Kamta Prasad (brother of Pandit Durga Prasad) moved an application on 29.8.1953 under Section 4 of the M.P. Public Trusts Act, 1951 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act") for registration of Shri Madan Mohan Temple Trust and the application was registered as Case No.73. In this application it was alleged that a public trust was established by His Holiness Param Vaishnav Raghu Nath Ji Vyas and he himself along with his two brothers, namely, Pandit Durga Prasad and Pandit Narayan Prasad were the trustees thereof. Another application was moved by Seth Champalal Sheonarayanji Rathi, Seth Laxminarayanji Rathi and some others on 30.8.1953 before the Registrar for registration of a trust known as Maheshwari Panchayati Mandir, Harda and this application was registered as case No.206. Seth Champalal Sheonarayanji Rathi was the father of the appellant Seth Chand Ratan. Seth Chand Ratan moved an application on 7.2.1955 for amalgamation of application nos.73 and 206. It appears that the Registrar held some inquiry in the application moved by Pandit Kamta Prasad. Subsequently, Pandit Kamt....
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.... in case of his failure to do so, he shall make an application to the Court under Section 26(2) of the Act. Since Pandit Durga Prasad did not move an application to the Court, the Registrar himself made a reference to the Court under Section 26(2) of the Act, which was registered as Misc. Case No.2 of 1984. The First Additional District Judge, Hoshangabad, after hearing the parties decided the reference by his order dated 28.3.1985 and held that the order dated 31.12.1956 of the Registrar was not in accordance with law and was not binding. He accordingly directed that the trustees and managers of Maheshwari Panchayati Mandir, Harda, shall be handed over the management of Shri Madan Mohan Mandir and the tenants in the shops of the temple shall pay rent to them. It was further directed that the Registrar shall make inquiries from time to time and see that proper accounts of the income arising out of the temple are kept and the same is used for the purpose shown in the trust. Pandit Durga Prasad then filed a writ petition under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution for quashing the order dated 13.12.1983 of the Registrar and the order dated 28.3.1985 passed by the First Additional....
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....ter to the Court. The First Additional District Judge, Hoshangabad, it is urged, was fully competent to enter upon the reference and the order passed by him to the effect that the order dated 31.12.1956 of the Registrar was not in accordance with the provisions of the Act and was not binding and that the management of Shri Madan Mohan Mandir and the shops in precincts thereof shall be handed over to the trustees and manager of Maheshwari Panchayati Mandir is perfectly correct. Learned counsel has further submitted that the order passed by the First Additional District Judge is deemed to be a decree of the Court under Sub-section (3) of Section 27 of the Act against which an appeal lies to the High Court. The appeal preferred by Durga Prasad having been dismissed by the High Court on 26.11.1988, the order passed by the First Additional District Judge became final and binding between the parties and it was not at all open to the High Court to quash the very same order in a writ petition under Article 226/227 of the Constitution. It has thus been submitted that the impugned orders dated 2.9.1994 of the leaned Single Judge and also the order dated 7.3.1995 of the Division Bench in lett....
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....llector shall be the Registrar of Public Trusts and he shall maintain the register of public trusts and such other books and registers and in such form as may be prescribed. Section 4 provides that within three months from the date of coming into force of the Section, the working trustees of every public trust shall apply to the Registrar having jurisdiction for the registration of the public trust. Sub-section (3) of Section 4 lays down that the application shall be in such form as may be prescribed and shall contain the particulars enumerated in this sub-section. Sub-section (5) of Section 4, provides an appeal against the decision made by the Registrar regarding registration of a public trust and it also lays down that the order of the appellate authority shall be final. Section 5 enjoins the Registrar to make inquiry in the prescribed manner for the purposes of ascertaining whether the trust is a public trust; whether any property is the property of the trust; the names and addresses of the trustees and managers and the mode of succession to the office of the trustee of such trust; the amount of gross average annual income and expenditure, etc. Section 6 lays down that on compl....
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..... The order passed by the Registrar on 7.2.1955 in case no.206 directing that the aforesaid property belonged to and was being managed by a public trust, namely, Maheshwari Panchayati Samaj had been passed on account of a clerical mistake. Thus, it was held that there was no occasion for the Registrar to make a reference to the Court under Section 26 of the Act and consequently the order dated 31.12.1983 making the reference and the order passed by the Court (First Additional District Judge) on 28.3.1985 were illegal. The Division Bench has also concurred with the aforesaid reasoning of the learned Single Judge. In our opinion, the view taken by the High Court is not supported by the provisions of the Act. Pandit Kamta Prasad had himself moved an application under Section 4 of the Act on 29.8.1953 for registration of Shri Madan Mohan Mandir as a public trust and this application was registered as Case No.73. However, subsequently he moved an application on 20.1.1955 for withdrawal of the aforesaid application. This application was opposed by Seth Champalal Sheonarayanji Rathi (father of the appellant) by filing a detailed objection on 6.4.1955. The Registrar by his order dated 19.....
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....ar on 31.12.1956 is not in accordance with law and is not binding upon him. He further issued directions that the trustees and managers of Maheshwari Panchayati Mandir, Harda shall be handed over the management of Shri Madan Mohan Mandir and the tenants shall pay rent to them. This order, which is deemed to be a decree under Sub-section (3) of Section 27 of the Act was challenged by Pandit Durga Prasad by filing Misc. First Appeal No.384 of 1987 before the High Court but the same was dismissed by the order dated 26.11.1988. In this appeal, Seth Chand Ratan and the Registrar of Public Trust were arrayed as respondent nos.1 and 2 and the nine tenants of the property were arrayed as respondent nos.3 to 11. The result of the dismissal of the appeal was that as between the parties the order passed by the First Additional District Judge, Hoshangabad in Misc. Case No.2 of 1984 became final. It is noteworthy that the writ petition has been decided on 2.9.1994 long time after the dismissal of the first appeal. The learned Single Judge did not at all advert to the fact that against the judgment and decree dated 28.3.1985 of the First Additional District Judge, Hoshangabad, an appeal had been....
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....ne which leads to a conflict of decisions of the same court. Even on the assumption that the order of the appellate court had not merged in the order of the single Judge who had disposed of the revision petition we are of the view that a writ petition ought not to have been entertained by the High Court when the respondent had already chosen the remedy under Section 115 of the Code of Civil Procedure. If there are two modes of invoking the jurisdiction of the High Court and one of those modes has been chosen and exhausted it would not be a proper and sound exercise of discretion to grant relief in the other set of proceedings in respect of the same order of the subordinate court. The refusal to grant relief in such circumstances would be in consonance with the anxiety of the court to prevent abuse of process as also to respect and accord finality to its own decisions. This being the legal position, the writ petition filed by Pandit Durga Prasad was not maintainable and the High Court committed manifest error of law in entertaining and allowing the same. Even otherwise, the view taken by the Division Bench of the High Court for repelling the objection of the appellant regarding t....