TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2006 (5) TMI 496
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....r such purposes the following books of account shall be kept:- i) Cash Book (Rukad) ii) Auro (Monthly Rozmel) iii) Nondh (Daily Journal) iv) Ledger containing separate Khatas for each head of income and expenditure including all expenditure on account of Tyagis. The ledger kept at the Vadtal Temple shall also contain separate khatas of (a) Name Vero and Bhets; (b) The household expenditure on account of the Acharya; (c) Any expenditure incurred on account of the Acharya on official tours and other official occasions; and (d) What may be paid to the Acharya on account of the personal expenditure but not of such personal expenditure 27. . 28. At the close of each Samvat year a separate Financial Statement and Balance Sheet shall be drawn up in regard to each temple and in regard to the whole Institution. Copies of such Statements and Balance Sheets shall be furnished to each member of the Committee by the Kothari (Manager) before the first quarterly meeting of the following year and such Balance Sheets and Statements shall be checked and passed by the Committee at such Meeting. 29. In terms of Clause 29, all books of account....
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....harity Commissioner, Bombay, a corporation sole, was reconstituted and reorganized so as to constitute a new corporation for Gujarat Region and to reconstitute the existing corporation to function for Maharashtra Region." Clauses 4 (b) & (c), 5 and 6 (a) & (b) read thus:- "4. Registration of public trusts where property or office is situate In the case of a public trust duly registered under the Act before the appointed day, or deemed to be so registered, if, immediately before that day, - (a) . (b) the trust property is situated partly in the Maharashtra region and partly in the Gujarat region, then in respect of so much of the said property as is situate in the Maharashtra region or the Gujarat region, the trust shall, whether the office for the administration of the trust is or is not situate in that region, be deemed to be so registered in that day without further inquiry, charge or fee in the Maharashtra region or, as the case may be, the Gujarat region. (c) The trust property is situate in the Maharashtra region and the office for the administration of the trust is situate in the Gujarat region or vice versa....
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....e of Gujarat, an application was filed for modification of the said scheme in the City Civil Court at Ahmedabad. A contention raised in the suit that the Courts of Gujarat had no jurisdiction was negatived. Ultimately, the said scheme was modified by the Gujarat High Court by a judgment and Order dated 20th June, 1974, clause 30(c ) of the Scheme as mentioned is as under:- "30(c) The Board shall within nine months after the close of every financial year, prepare a balance sheet and the statement of income and expenditure for the said year and forward the same together with the Auditor's report to every person whose name is entered in the Voters' list and also to Acharya." According to the appellant, the Trust had been rendering its accounts to the Assistant Charity Commissioner in Gujarat at Nadiad and had also been filing other documents and changed reports from time to time therein. Respondent No. 1 herein claiming himself to be a member of the trust, filed an application before the Assistant Charity Commissioner of Greater Bombay purportedly under Section 41A and 41B of the Act praying, inter alia, for appointment of proper persons and trustees of the said trust. ....
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....perties situate within the State of Maharashtra, having regard to the doctrine of lex-sites, the said authority could not have assumed jurisdiction in respect of the entire trust. The Assistant Charity Commissioner, Bombay derived his jurisdiction from the provisions of the Bombay Public Trust Act. Upon reorganisation of the State, he had a limited jurisdiction to exercise. All the provisions of the said Act were indisputably also not applicable to both the State of Maharashtra and the State of Gujarat. The Assistant Charity Commissioner exercised his jurisdiction in terms of Section 41A and 41B of the Act. Section 41A of the Act reads thus:- "41A. Power of Commissioner to issue directions (for proper administration of the trust) (1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Charity Commissioner may from time to time issue directions to any trustee of a public trust or any person connected therewith, to ensure that the trust is properly administered, and the income thereof is properly accounted for or duly appropriated and applied to the objects and for the purposes of the trust; and the Charity Commissioner may also give directions to the trustees or such per....
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....ble to Item 28 of List III of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution. Ordinarily, therefore, the Legislation enacted by a State will be applicable only within the territorial limits thereof. There is a general presumption that the Legislature does not intend to exceed its jurisdiction. An Act relating to religious and charitable institutions would be presumed to be applicable only in respect of the properties or any part thereof situate in the State. The 1960 Act, however, makes the provisions explicit, clear and unambiguous. The property of the Trust situate within the Maharashtra region in terms of Clause 4(b) of the 1960 Order is to be deemed to be registered with the Charity Commissioner, Bombay. The said authority could thus have exercised its jurisdiction only in respect of that property. It had no jurisdiction in relation to the administration of the entire trust as the office of the trust is situate within the State of Gujarat. The Assistant Charity Commissioner, therefore, could not have issued any direction as prayed for in the application filed before it by the first respondent herein. A statutory authority, as is well known, must exercise its jurisdiction within the f....