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TMI Blog1887 (5) TMI 1X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ration of the worship, they pray that the Court will make the defendants, as recipients of the offerings at the idol's shrine, accountable, as trustees, for the right disposal of the property thus acquired. The income of the temple having, as they say, largely increased, and being wrongly or unduly appropriated by the defendants, called generally the shevaks (or ministers), to their personal purposes, they pray for the appointment of a receiver for the exaction from the defendants of accounts of their management, for the delivery up by them of all property appertaining to the temple, for an inquiry into their conduct as ministers of the idol, and for the construction of a scheme of future management. 3. The defendants take the position that they, as a body, are the owners, for all secular purposes, of the idol, whom, in the spiritual sense, they serve. The offerings made at the shrine, the cattle, and even the land presented by devotees are, they assert, their property free from any secular obligation, as none has ever in practice or in the intention of the donors been annexed to the gifts by which religious merit was sought and gained. They hold the property thus acquired, ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... side the society or for the promotion of any purpose of recognized public utility. The latter characteristic is essential to a public charity, but in its absence there may be a corporation existing by royal grant, prescription or legal allowance, holding property for other than charitable purposes. Whether the association exists for charitable purposes or not, it cannot, according to the English law, without incorporation in some shape, become vested with property as a mere fluctuating and undefined aggregate-Goodman v. Mayor of Saltash L.R. 7 Ap. Cas. 633 648. If its purposes are such as are contemplated by Section 26 of the Indian Joint Stock Companies' Act, VI of 1882, the society may get itself constituted accordingly under the Act. Otherwise, though the individual members may have certain rights and privileges as members of a class or answering to a certain designation, these advantages must be realized, as against the world at large, through the proprietary or quasi' proprietary right of some other person or corporation, 7. The defendants in the present case put themselves forward, not merely as entitled to the enjoyment of particular benefits to be taken by them i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nt of such a question by the competent authority, is involved in the exercise of this jurisdiction, and does not stand in the way of it-Krishnasami Chetti v. Virasami Chetti I.L.R. 10 Mad., 133; W. B., H.L., 599 n. It is recognized by the indigenous customary law that an affair, in which the castes could not or would not give relief, is a proper subject of adjudication by the ordinary Civil Courts West and Buhler, H.L., p. 1007 n (c); Steele L.C., 185, 186 and 267. The cases in which Hindu foundations and charitable (including religious) trusts have been enforced and the persons connected with them made accountable by the Civil Courts are too numerous to mention. Reference may be made to Maharanee Shibessouree Debia v. Mothooranath Acharjo 13 M I.A., 270; Mohunt Burm Suroop Dass v. Khashee Jha 20 Cal. W.R. Civ. Rule., 471; Juggodumba Dossee v. Puddomoney Dossee 15 B L.R., 318; Dhurrum Singh v. Kissen Singh I.L.R. 7 Cal 767 . If, then, there is, in the present case, a public purpose, for the fulfillment of which, a class of persons, for whose benefit, in a way admitted by the State as deserving protection, the property of the Dakor temple is held and its revenues are received by t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... responsibility, and thus the document, exhibit 4, is evidence against them, as though it were of but recent date. 10. The document, (exhibit 210), dated in 1793, shows the native governor of the fort of Pavghar exercising a visitatorial power to prevent waste of the temple property by either the Tambekar managing the dedicated villages, or the skevaks holding the accumulated offerings at the shrine. In 1818, exhibits 243, 256 are orders of the English Collector exercising an authority like that formerly exercised, by the native governor. The shevaks are allowed to take the offerings in cash; but articles of value, such as clothes and jewels', are to be consigned to the charge of the bhandari or store-keeper. Again in 1829 (exhibit 322) and in 1831 (exhibit 244) the Collector intervened to preserve order and to prevent mismanagement, with a threat that neglect would be followed by an adoption of the measures authorized by Regulation XVII of 1827. Coming clown to a more recent time, we find the shevaks in 1861 (exhibit 264) petitioning the Government of Bombay for a remission of Income Tax, on the ground that the revenue derived from the offerings was primarily the property of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e foundation of churches and of religious and charitable institutions were much encouraged Sav. Syst., Section 88; comp. V. B., 197. The officials of the church were empowered specially to watch over the administration of the funds and estates thus dedicated to pious uses Sav. Syst., Section 88, but the immediate beneficiary was conceived as a personified realization of the church hospital or fund for ransoming prisoners from captivity Sav. Syst., Section 88. Such a practical realism is not confined to the sphere of law; it is made use of even by merchants in their accounts, and by furnishing an ideal centre for an institution to which the necessary human attributes are ascribed-Dhadphale v. Gurav I.L.R., 6 Bom., 122 it makes the application of the ordinary rules of law easy as in the case of an infant or a lunatic Sav. Syst., Section 90; comp. Kinlock v. Secretary of State for India in Council, L.R., 15 Ch. Div. 8 . Property dedicated to a pious purpose is, by the Hindu as by the Roman law, placed extra commercium W. B., H.L. 185 with similar practical savings as to sales of superfluous articles for the payment of debts and plainly necessary purposes Sec Cod. Lib. I, T 2, F. 2 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... opriated what could no longer be applied to the use of the deity. Their proprietorship, he says, subsists only through Shri Ranchhod Raiji. The defendant Bechar Madhavram (exhibit 137) insists strongly on the shevaks right even to sell the temple lands, but he gives no instance of it; and Lakshman (exhibit 139) admits that offerings are dedicated to the deity, though still he says the shevaks take them as owners. While the idol is present, this witness says, the shrine is his. In his absence it is ours. This is another instance of the confusion of thought or want of power of abstraction, which, more perhaps than any positively dishonest intention, has led the shevaks to commit themselves to a false and untenable position. The witness Shivial.(exhibit 157) says, the shevaks take all the offerings, but still as representatives of the deity Jamnadas (exhibit 197), a bountiful donor to the temple, says, the offerings are made to the god, though the shevaks divide them at their discretion. This is what the shevaks would naturally do, even as managers, unless called to account by some superior authority. It by no means necessitates the conclusion that they are and have always been ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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