TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1959 (4) TMI 42
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....ples of Deoghar (see Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Part 1, 1883, quoted in the Bihar District Gazetteer relating to Santal Parganas, 1938 edition, pp. 373-376), the origin of the temple is traced to the Treta Yuga, which was the second age of the world by Hindu mythology. Side by side with Hindu tradition, there is a Santal tradition of the origin of the temple given by Sir William Hunter (see the Annals of Rural Bengal, p. 191; Statistical Account of Bengal, Vol. XIV, p. 323). But these materials afford no evidence as to when and by whom the idol was established or the temple was built. 3. The temple sheltering the "lingam" and dedicated to Mahadeva stands in a stone-paved quadrangular courtyard. The courtyard contains eleven other temples, smaller in size and of less importance than that of Baidyanath. Pilgrims visit the temples in large numbers and make offerings of flowers and money in silver or gold; rich people offer horses, cattle, palanquins, gold ornaments and other valuables and sometimes, rent-free land in support of the daily worship. There is a high or chief priest (Sardar Panda) who it appears used to pay a fixed rent to the Rajas of Birbhum dur....
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....e to the established courts of law. Sarbanand died in 1837 and Iswaranund Ojha, son of Sarbanand Ojha, was subsequently elected Sardar Panda. Iswaranund was succeeded by his grand-son, Sailajanund Ojha. 4. There were, however, frequent disputes between the high priest and the "pandas" regarding the control of the temple and in 1897 a suit was filed under s. 539 (now s. 92) of the Code of Civil Procedure in the Court of the District Judge of Burdwan. This was Suit No. 18 of 1897 which was decided by the learned Additional District Judge of Burdwan by his judgment dated July 4, 1901. Sailajanund Ojha was dismissed by the order of the court, as he by his conduct and behavior and by causing loss to the Debutter properties rendered himself unfit and disqualified to hold the post of Sardar Panda and trustee of the temple of Baidyanath. It was further ordered by the learned Additional district Judge in the decree granted by him that some fit person be elected as Sardar Panda by the "pandas" of the temple and that the affairs of the temple be managed under a scheme which was framed by the learned Additional District Judge and formed a part of the decree. Under this sch....
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....ontrol of the temple funds after they have been realised; (4) that there must be no undue interference on the part of the committee with the high priest in the internal management of the temple; and (5) that no one who has any pecuniary interest in the temple properties or is a creditor of the endowment should serve on the committee. The High Court further directed that clauses embodying the aforesaid five directions should be inserted in the scheme. This decision of the High Court is reported in Umeshananda Dutta Jha v. Sir Ravaneswar Prasad Singh 17 C.W.N. 871. 6. We now come to more recent events which gave rise to Miscellaneous Judicial Case No. 181 of 1953 in the Patna High Court. The Bihar Hindu Religious Trusts Act, 1950 (Bihar I of 1951), hereinafter referred to as the Act, received the President's assent on February 21, 1951, and came into force on August 15, 1951. This Act established the Bihar State Board of Religious Trusts to discharge the functions assigned to the Board by the Act. Sometime in August 1952 the President of the Bihar State Board of Religious Trusts acting under s. 59 of the Act asked the respondent to furnish a statement in respect of the Baidyanat....
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....e Board of Religious Trusts constituted under the Act had no jurisdiction to take any proceedings against the respondent under the provisions of the Act. Accordingly, the High Court allowed the application of the respondent, quashed the proceedings taken against him by the Bihar State Board of Religious Trusts, and issued a writ prohibiting the said Board from taking any further proceedings against the respondent under any of the provisions of the Act. 8. The State of Bihar, the Bihar State Board of Religious Trusts and its President obtained a certificate under Art. 132 of the Constitution from the High Court and the present appeal has been filed by them in pursuance of that certificate. We shall hereinafter refer to them compendiously as the appellants. 9. We have had before us a number of appeals in which the validity of the Act has been challenged on several grounds and in some of these appeals, further questions were raised as to the application of the Act to private religious trusts and even to public trusts some properties of which are situate outside the State of Bihar. These appeals we put in four categories. They have been heard one after another, and though we are deli....
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....nt State of West Bengal. 10. Now, we come to the points which have been specially raised in this appeal, which is in the fourth or last category. On behalf of the appellants it has been very strongly contended that the High Court was in error in relying on the doctrine of comity of jurisdictions and cutting down the scope of the Act on such a doctrine. It has been submitted that the doctrine of comity of jurisdictions has no application to the facts of the present case and there is no possibility of any conflict or clash of jurisdiction between two equally competent authorities. It is pointed out that item 28 of the Concurrent List in the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India is "Charities and charitable institutions, charitable and religious endowments and religious institutions". It is argued that the Bihar Legislature has, therefore, full legislative competence to enact the statute in question, and it has been submitted that if the Act does to suffer from the vice of extra-territoriality, then it is good and all courts must obey it. Under s. 4(5) of the Act, s. 92 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, has ceased to apply to any religious trust as defined in th....
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....ct Judge of Burdwan or the Calcutta High Court. In this connection he has referred to clause 39 of the Letters Patent of the Patna High Court, particularly to item (a) of the first proviso thereto. That clause is in these terms :- "And We do further ordain that the jurisdiction of the High Court of Judicature at Fort William in Bengal in any matter in which jurisdiction is by these presents given to the High Court of Judicature at Patna shall cease from the date of the publication of these presents, and that all proceeding pending in the former Court on that date in reference to any such matter shall be transferred to the latter Court : Provided, first, that the High Court of Judicature at Fort William in Bengal shall continue to exercise jurisdiction - (a) in all proceedings pending in that Court on the date of the publication of these presents in which any decree or order, other than an order of an interlocutory nature, has been passed or made by that Court, or in which the validity of any such decree or order is directly in question; and (b) in all proceedings (not being proceedings referred to in paragraph (a) of this clause) pending in that Court on the date of th....
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.... in this case of any conflict or inconsistency with the doctrine of comity of nations or with any established rule of international law. The question which really arises for decision is if any of the provisions of the Act have extra-territorial operation. This question has two aspects. First, there is s. 3 which says inter alia that the Act shall apply to all religious trusts, any part of the property of which is situated in the State of Bihar. The argument is that the Bihar Legislature has no power to legislate about trust property which is outside the territorial limits of Bihar and s. 3 of the Act in so far as it seeks to operate on trust property outside Bihar makes the Act bad on the ground of extra-territorial operation. This part of the argument has been fully dealt with and rejected in the decision relating to the Charusila Trust, Civil Appeal No. 230 of 1955 [State of Bihar v. Charusila Dasi, see p. 601, ante.]. The second facet of the argument is what Mr. P. R. Das has specially emphasised before us in this appeal. His argument in substance is that the Act by some of its provisions seeks to interfere with the jurisdiction of courts which are outside Bihar, and this in eff....
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.... Civil Procedure, including all matters included in the Code of Civil Procedure at the commencement of the Constitution, is item 13 of the Concurrent List. It has not been disputed before us that it is open to the Bihar Legislature to amend the Code of Civil Procedure while legislating in respect of religious endowments and religious institutions in Bihar, and the President's assent having been received to the Act, the law made by the Bihar Legislature shall prevail in that State, under Art. 254(2) of the Constitution, in respect of all religious trusts situate in Bihar. In this view of the matter, it is unnecessary to consider the further questions if Suit No. 18 of 1897 is still pending, the proper scope and effect of clause 39 of the Letters Patent of the Patna High Court, and which authority can amend the Letters Patent. Even if Suit No. 18 of 1897 is deemed to be still pending, though we do not so decide, any further action under the scheme in respect of the Baidyanath temple and its properties can be taken either by the District Judge of Burdwan or the Calcutta High Court only if the jurisdiction under s. 92, Civil Procedure Code, is still preserved in respect of it. If t....
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....s so, any decree or order of a Court or authority by which such committee or association was constituted shall be deemed to have been modified accordingly : Provided that before making any order under this sub-section, the Board shall communicate to the committee or association concerned the grounds on which they propose to supersede it, fix a reasonable period for the committee or association to show cause against the proposal and consider its explanations and objections, if any. (3) Such committee or association or any other person interested in the religious trust may, within thirty days of any order of the Board under sub-section (2), make an application to the District Judge for varying, modifying or setting aside such order, but, subject to the decision of the District Judge on any such application, the order of the Board shall be final and binding upon the applicant and every person interested in such trust. (4) Where such committee or association has been superseded under sub-section (2), the Board may make such arrangements as may be necessary for the administration of the religious trust concerned." 16. It has been argued that s. 29 in terms gives the Bihar St....