TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2014 (4) TMI 1101
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....t Petition No. 6607 of 2004 was filed by Mahant Shri Ramodaracharya challenging the notifications dated 17.09.2004 whereby Chapter 10 of the Rajasthan Public Trust Act, 1959 was made applicable to the Trust and notification dated 18.09.2004 whereby a Committee under Section 53 of the Act was appointed in respect of the Trust. D.B. (Civil) Writ Petition No. 5650 of 2007 was filed by the Mandir Thikana Shri Galtaji. Though D.B. (Civil) W.P. No. 6607 of 2004 and D.B. (Civil) W.P. No. 5650 of 2007 were filed before the learned single Judge, as all the issues revolve around Galta Peeth and properties of Thikana Galta, the writ petitions before the learned single Judge were called and a common order was passed by the High Court. 3. For better appreciation of facts, the relief sought in D.B. (Civil) W.P. No. 2321 of 2006, which is a Public Interest Litigation, the order which is impugned in the Civil Appeal @ SLP(C) No. 28021 of 2010 is extracted below: (i) by an appropriate writ, order or direction in the nature whereof, this Hon'ble Court may be pleased to declare that the Galta Peeth / Thikana, its temples and properties are public properties and not private or individual p....
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....ner, Devasthan Department, in Complaint Nos. 1 of 2004, 1 of 2006 and 1 of 2007. Respondent No. 4 in that writ petition consented for the disposal and adjudication of these issues by the Assistant Commissioner. Accordingly, the High Court, passed common order in the writ petitions in the following terms: "We have considered rival submissions made by the learned counsel for the parties and perused the record. The issues raised in two Public Interest Litigations have been narrated while dealing with the arguments of learned counsel for the petitioners. The first issue is regarding nature of appointment of Mahant in the year 1943. As to whether the post of Mahant will go in succession to the legal heirs in view of the fact that late Mahant Ramodaracharya is no more. The other issue is that as to whether the property of Galta Peeth/Thikana is public property or property belonging to individual. According to us, both the issues are pending consideration before the Assistant Commissioner, Devasthan Department as it has been admitted by the learned counsel for the respondent No. 6 (Avdesh Kumar), who is presently holding the post of Mahant. In view of aforesaid, Public Interes....
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....ion which was issued under Chapter 10, if need so arises. The High Court observed that - "It is agreed by all the parties that till the matter is decided by the Assistant Commissioner, Devasthan Department, they will maintain status quo in respect of the office of Mahant as well as regarding property of Galta Peeth/Thikana." 9. Aggrieved by the order passed in D.B. (Civil) W.P. No. 2321 of 2006, Civil Appeal @ SLP(C) No. 28021 of 2010 was filed and whereas against the order passed in D.B. (Civil) W.P. No. of 6607 of 2004 which was filed by the father of the 4th respondent herein, wherein the appellant herein was not a party, has sought leave of the Court and preferred Civil Appeal @ SLP(C) No. 28022 of 2010 on the ground that the High Court without going into the merits, rendered the matter infructuous and which resulted in miscarriage of justice and irreparable injury to the public interest. Accordingly, these two appeals are placed before us, which arise out of a common order of the High Court. 10. We have heard the counsels at length. It is mainly contended by the learned counsel appearing for the appellant that the writ petitions were disposed of by the High C....
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.... to apply to the concerned Court and under Section 43 it is the power of the Court to appoint the trustees with regard to the custom or usage and, as per the provisions of Section 53(1) of the Act a committee of management has to be appointed in place of the Respondent No.4 by the State to protect the properties of the Galta Peeth and the Respondent No.4 cannot appoint his own trustees and the State Government has to appoint the working trustee in accordance with the Act. 14. During the pendency of the reconstitution of the Committee of Management under Section 53 of the Act, a direction to the State Government was sought to appoint a Managing Committee of independent persons to protect the interests of the trust. He contended that the order of the High Court disposing of the writ petition was unmindful and has resulted in serious miscarriage of justice and irreparable injury to public interest. Under Section 53 of the Act, the Government is bound to appoint another Committee or re-appoint the erstwhile members of the Committee. The High Court has created a vacuum not contemplated by the Act, which is against public interest. 15. In support of his contentions, learned senior ....
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.... for formal dismissal in the present appeals, though they too have become infructuous. 20. Relying upon the order of the Division Bench of the High Court, it is contended that after the disposal of the writ petition, as per the directions of the High Court, the appellant herein has impleaded himself and filed objections before the Assistant Commissioner in the statutory appeal. Taking into consideration the provisions of Sections 21, 38 and 41 of the Act, the Assistant Commissioner rejected the same by three separate speaking orders dated 28th March, 2013. Against those orders, the appellant has already filed appeals before the Commissioner, which are pending for consideration. Hence these Civil Appeals are not maintainable. 21. Apart from preliminary objections, learned counsel appearing for the respondents addressed on the main issues also and relied upon different provisions of the Act. The counsel brought to our notice that in fact as early as on 19-5-1928 itself a list of properties of Galta Peeth was drawn up, including some of the private properties of the Mahant i.e. residential house etc. Thereafter, a series of legal proceedings have taken place between the Governme....
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....supported the judgment of the High Court in all respects and further stated that the present appeals are not maintainable 25. In view of the extensive arguments submitted on behalf of either side, the following issues fall for consideration before this Court: 1. Whether the High Court was right in relegating the parties to the Assistant Commissioner without going into the merits and legal issues involved in the case? 2. Whether the Assistant Commissioner has got the authority and jurisdiction under the Act to deal with complicated issues involved in the matter? 3. Whether the appellant herein is aggrieved by the order passed in Writ Petition (C) No. 6607 of 2004, wherein the writ petition was dismissed as infructuous? 26. Before we deal with the above issues, it is necessary to examine the relevant provisions of the Rajasthan Public Trust Act, 1959 which came into force w.e.f. 1st July, 1962. Chapter 5 of the Act covers Sections 16 to 29 and it deals with Registration process of a public trust. As per Section 16, the Assistant Commissioner shall be in charge of the registration and he maintains a register. Section 17 explains the procedure for regis....
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....iculars as may be prescribed; Provided that the rules made may provide that in the case of any or all public trusts it shall not be necessary to give the particulars of the trust property of such value and kind as may be specified therein. 5. Every application made under sub-section (1) shall be signed and verified in accordance with the manner laid down in the code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (Central Act v if 1908) for signing and verifying plaints. It shall be accompanied by a copy of the instrument of trust (if such instrument has been executed and is in existence) and, where the trust property includes immovable property entered in a record of rights, a copy of the relevant entries relating to such property in such record of rights shall also be enclosed. 6. No Assistant Commissioner shall proceed with any application for the registration of a public trust in respect of which an application for registration has been filed previously before any other Assistant Commissioner, and the Assistant Commissioner before whom the application was filed first shall decide which Assistant Commissioner shall have jurisdiction to register the public trust. 7. An appeal....
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....letion of the inquiry as contemplated under section 18, the Assistant Commissioner shall record his findings as provided under Section 19 of the Act. Section 20 of the Act makes the provision for Appeal and reads thus: "Any working trustee or person having interest in a public trust or in any property found to be trust property aggrieved by a finding of the Assistant Commissioner under Sec. 19 may, within two months from the date of its publication on the notice board of the Assistant Commissioner, file an appeal before the Commissioner to have such finding set aside or modified." 29. Section 21 of the Act prescribes that the Assistant Commissioner shall cause entries to be made in the register and under sub-section (2) the entries so made shall become final and conclusive. As per Section 22, if anyone is aggrieved by any entry, he may institute a civil suit. If there is any necessity for changes in the entries so recorded in the register, the working trustee can make an application under Section 23(1) to the Assistant Commissioner. After holding an inquiry under Section 23(2) the Assistant Commissioner can change the entries. Section 24 enables the Assistant Commission....
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....in, can make an application to the Assistant Commissioner having jurisdiction seeking permission to apply to the Court for appointment of a new working trustee and the Court under Section 43 of the Act can make inquiry and pass an order. 33. Section 49 of the Act empowers the Assistant Commissioner to ask for explanation of the working trustee. If the Assistant Commissioner, on a perusal of the report of the auditor made under Section 34, is of the opinion that material defects exist in administration of the public trust, he may require the working trustee to submit an explanation thereon within such period as he thinks fit. 34. Some special provisions are provided to public trusts under Chapter 10. Section 52 emphasizes how this chapter is applied to a public trust. It provides that this Chapter applies to every public trust which has a gross annual income of Rs. 1.00 lakh or more or is maintained or managed by the State Government. Sub-section (2) provides that it is the duty of the State Government to publish in the official gazette a list of the public trusts to which this chapter applies. The amended sub-section (3) makes it clear that for the purpose of maintaining publ....
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....d enforcing the attendance of any person and examining him on oath and further compelling the production of documents and issue of Commissions. 40. A detailed examination of the Act reveals that it is a self-contained Act. We have thoroughly examined the Sections and each and every provision of law that is relevant for the purpose of the case on hand and find that the Act has provided appropriate mechanism (a) to deal with the registration of a public trust; (b) making of entries in the register, their correction and inquiry, if any; (c) duties of auditor and inspection of balance sheet by any person interested in such public trust; (d) application by any person seeking directions from the Assistant Commissioner to appoint a new working trustee on the ground that the properties of the trust are not being properly managed or administered; (e) power of the Assistant Commissioner to ask for explanation of the working trustee about the administration of the trust; and (f) in case of mismanagement, power of the State Government to appoint a new committee of management etc. 41. Now in the light of the above provisions of the Rajasthan Public Trust Act, we would like to deal with th....
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....elt that those issues can be effectively decided by the Assistant Commissioner, and accordingly, permitted the appellant to implead himself in the pending applications before the authority. In view of the statutory provisions, as narrated and discussed by us supra, which give extensive powers to the Assistant Commissioner and Commissioner, in some cases the power of the civil Court to effectively decide the issues of the Public Trust, by providing effective mechanism, we are unable to agree with the contentions advanced by the learned counsel that the Assistant Commissioner has no jurisdiction to adjudicate the disputes involved, because the Act clearly demonstrates the power and jurisdiction of the Assistant Commissioner in deciding the issues pertaining to public trust and particularly the issues raised before us. 43. Apart from that, the appellant herein has impleaded himself in the applications pending before the Assistant Commissioner which were disposed of by him vide orders dated 28.03.2013, and against those orders of the Assistant Commissioner, it appears that the parties have preferred appeals as provided under the Act. The appellant having availed the alternative reme....
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....o.4 herein questioning the constitution of the Committee. When the Court directed the parties to appear before the Assistant Commissioner for proper adjudication of the issues as the five-year term of the Committee expired, the 4th respondent sought permission of the Court and withdrew the writ petition, with a liberty to raise all the issues before the authority. The appellant herein who was not a party to D.B. (Civil) W.P. No. 6607 of 2004 has not chosen to implead himself nor objected to the withdrawing of the writ petition when the order was passed in his presence. He is taking such an objection and such plea for the first time before this Court. He relied on Shehla Burney (Dr.) Vs. Syed Ali Moosa Raza & Ors. (2011) 6 SCC 529; that on technical objection, this Court cannot reject to grant relief to the appellant in this Public Interest Litigation. There is no dispute with regard to the legal proposition that technicalities should not come in the way of the Court in granting relief in a Public Interest Litigation, but application of a legal proposition depends upon the facts and circumstances of each case. Here we deem it appropriate to extract Section 53 which reads thus: ....
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....stee, and in the case of a Math, the head thereof, shall be the Chairman of the committee of management, if he is willing to serve as such. 46. In this case, a Committee was constituted pursuant to notification dated 18.09.2004, and the term of the Committee expired on 17.09.2009, and even though four years have passed from the date of expiry of the term of the Committee, the Government has not chosen to appoint a fresh Committee. The appointment of the Committee invoking Section 53, depends upon the satisfaction and necessity felt by the Government. It is brought to our notice that the notification was issued by the Government invoking unamended Section 53 of the Act. The said Section has now been amended on 12.10.2007, where the Government was given discretion to appoint or not to appoint the Committee. We have gone through the amended Section 53 of the Act wherein the word 'may" has been substituted in the place of 'shall'. The Assistant Commissioner has already passed an order and the same is subject matter of appeal before the Commissioner. In view of the same, we are not able to appreciate the contention of the counsel that a permanent Committee has to be appointed to look....
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....ot enter into such disputed arena, particularly, when by reason thereof the fundamental right of a group of devotees under Articles 25 and 26 may be infringed. Like any other wing of the State, the Courts also while passing an order should ensure that the fundamental rights of a group of citizens under Articles 25 and 26 are not infringed. Such care and caution on the part of the High Court would be a welcome step. ... ... ... When the administration of the temple is within its control and it exercises the said power in terms of a Statute, the State, it is expected, normally would itself probe into the alleged irregularities. If the State through its machinery as provided for in one Act can arrive at the requisite finding of fact for the purpose of remedying the defects, it may not find it necessary to take recourse to the remedies provided for in another statute. It is trite that recourse to a provision to another statute may be resorted to when the State finds that its powers under the Act governing the field is inadequate. The High Courts and the Supreme Court would not ordinarily issue a writ of mandamus directing the State to carry out its statutory functions in a particula....