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TMI Blog2006 (5) TMI 496X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e 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 accounts and vouchers were to be opened to for inspection of each member of the C ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rganized 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, then the trust shall be deemed to be so registered on that day without further inquiry, charge or fee in each of the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 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. By an order dated 31.12.2001, the said application was allowed. The Assistant Charity Commissioner in the said order directed:- 1. Th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... sdiction 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 person if he finds that any property of the trust is in danger of being wasted, damaged, alienated or wrongfully sold, removed or disposed of. (2) It ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 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 four corners of the statute. It cannot act beyond the same. Any order which is passed by an authority which lacked inherent jurisdiction would be ultr ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the trust would be governed partly by the Madhya Pradesh Act and partly by the Bombay Act. Such a division of the trust and its administration is not contemplated by either of the two Acts. It is, therefore, clear that the present trust does not fall within the ambit of Section 28 and is not one of those trusts which can be deemed to be registered under the Bombay Act. That being so, it is obviously not a trust which fulfils the second condition of Section 88B of the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act and the appellant cannot be said to be entitled to the certificate under that Section. In the premises above-mentioned, the jurisdiction of the Charity Commissioner, Bombay must be held to be confined only to the management of the property situate within the State of Maharashtra and not in relation to the entire trust. The Charity Commissioner did not find that the allegations relating to mismanagement had any foundation. It has been clearly held that the said allegations are not proved. The Charity Commissioner also declined to pass an order in terms of Section 41A as regards the prayer for appointment of an administrator. The first respondent was only given liberty to ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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