TMI Blog1969 (9) TMI 127X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... eclaration that the properties mentioned in Schs, A B of the plaint are properties of the ownership of the trust mentioned earlier, They are suing on behalf of the Vallabha Sampradayees residing at Nadiad. According to their case as finally evolved that even during the last quarter of the 18th century, the Mandir of the Gokulnathji existed at Nagarwad in Nadiad Prant but In about 1821 a new Mandir was constructed by the followers of the Vallabha School at Santh Pipli, Nadiad and the idol of Gokulnathji which was previously worshipped at Nagarwad was taken and consecrated there. In about 1831 they invited Goswami Mathuranathji, a direct descendant of Shree Vallabhacharya to come over to Nadiad and take up the management of the Mandir as its Maha Prabhu. According to the plaintiffs the Mandir in question was constructed by the Vallabha Sampradayees and the expenses of the sevas as well as the utsavas performed in the Mandir were contributed by them. They further say that the properties belonging to the trust were purchased from the contributions made by the devotees of that temple. They assert that the persons belonging to the Vallabha Sampradaya have a right to have darshan of the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Haveli at Nadiad and founded his Gadi there; he was not only the owner of the Haveli but he was also the owner of the deities that were being worshipped in that Haveli. She further pleaded that as per the tenets and usages of the Vallabha school, it is not possible for the members of that cult to found a temple. They can only worship through the Acharya (Maha Prabhu) in. his house known as Haveli. According to their cult the Goswami Maharaj otherwise known as Maha Prabhu is the emblem of God head and the living representative of divinity. She went further and took up the plea that according to the Vallabha Sampradaya no deity can own any property. She further averred that Mathuranathji Maharaj and his descendants received from time to time presents and gifts made by his followers. Those presents were made to them as a mark of reverence and respect to them and with a view to receive their grace. They were the absolute owners of the idols they worshipped, the presents and gifts made to them and of the properties acquired by them. She denied that the Haveli in which Shree Gokulnathji is worshipped is a public temple. She also denied that the Vallabh Sampradayees were entitled to have ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... dy existing. In her written statement defendant No. 1 admitted that Mathuranathji was the first descendant of Vallabha to settle down in Nadiad. According to her he brought with him the idol of Shree Gokulnathji and started worshipping that idol in his Haveli. At a later stage the 1st defendant changed her version and put forward the theory that the ancestors of Mathuranathji had brought the idol of Shree Gokulnathji to Nadiad and installed the same there long before Mathuranathji came to that place. This significant deviation in the 1st defendant's case has evidently been introduced to meet the evidence led on behalf of the plaintiffs about the existence of Gokulnathji temple even before Mathuranathji was born in 1806. 7. Yet another circumstance that has to be borne in mind in appreciating the evidence adduced by the parties is about the manner in which Mathuranathji and his descendants were managing the Haveli. They had maintained regular and systematic accounts. It is obvious they were maintaining two sets of accounts, one relating to the income and expenses of the deity and another relating to the personal income and expenses of the Maharaj. But when the 1st defendant w ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e advisers of defendant No. 1 have unscrupulously tampered with the documents. This conduct naturally raises suspicion against the defence, and we would be justified in drawing an inference against defendant No. 1 by holding that, if the books of account which have been kept back by her had been produced they would have supported the plaintiffs' case. We agree with these observations. 8. We may now proceed to examine the material on record for finding out the true character of the suit properties viz. whether they are properties of a public trust arising from their dedication of those properties in favour of the deity Shree Gokulnathji or whether the deity as well as the suit properties are the private properties of Goswami Maharaj. In her written statement as noticed, earlier, the 1st defendant took up the specific plea that the idol of Shree Gokulnathji is the private property of the Maharaj; the Vallabh Cult does not permit any dedication in favour of an idol and in fact there was no dedication in favour of that idol. She emphatically denied that the suit properties were the properties of the deity Gokulnathji but in this Court evidently because of the enormity of evid ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ts below presented for our consideration a totally new case and that is that Gokulnathji undoubtly is a legal personality; in the past the properties had been dedicated in favour of that deity; those properties are the properties of a private trust of which the Maharaj was the trustee. On the basis of this newly evolved theory he wanted to explain away the effect of the evidence afforded by the account books and the documents. We are unable to accept this new plea. It runs counter to the case pleaded in the written statement. This is not a purely legal contention. The 1st defendant must have known whether there was any dedication in favour of Shri Gokulnathji and whether any portion of the suit properties were the properties of a private trust. She and her advisers must have known at all relevant times the true nature of the accounts maintained. Mr. Narasaraju is not right in his contention that the plea taken by him in this Court is a purely legal plea. It essentially relates to questions of fact. Hence we informed Mr. Narasaraju that we will not entertain the plea in question. 9. We shall now proceed to assess the evidence adduced in this case to find whether the plaintiffs ha ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ol. 10. In view of this decision Mr. Narasaraju, learned Counsel for the appellant did not press forward the contention that the Vallabha School prohibits worship in public temple. 11. Yet another contention taken on behalf of the appellant is that the architecture of the building in which Gokulnathji is housed and the nature of that building is such as to show that it is not a public temple. It was urged that that building does not possess any of the characteristics of a Hindu temple. It has not even a dome. This contention again has lost much of its force in view of the decision of this Court referred to earlier. Evidence establishes that Ballabha's son and his immediate successor Vithaleshwar had laid down a plan for the construction of temples by the Vallabha Sampardaees. He did not approve the idea of constructing rich and costly buildings for temples. Evidently he realised that religious temple buildings were not safe under the Mohommedan rule. For this reason he advised his followers to construct temples of extremely simple type. The external view of those temples gave the appearance of dwelling houses. It appears to be a common feature of the temples belonging to ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s. Gradually in course of time they have become public temples. Public temples are generally built or raised by the public and the deity installed to enable the members of the public or a section thereof to offer worship. In such a case the temple would clearly be a public temple. If a temple is proved to have originated as a public temple, nothing more is necessary to be proved to show that it is a public temple but if a temple is proved to have originated as a private temple or its origin is unknown or lost in antiquity then there must be proof to show that it is being used as a public temple. In such cases the true character of the particular temple is decided on the basis of various circumstances. In those cases the courts have to address themselves to various questions such as : (1) Is the temple built in such imposing manner that it may prima facie appear to be a public temple? (2) Are the members of the public entitled to worship in that temple as of right ? (3) Are the temple expenses met from the contributions made by the public ? (4) Whether the sevas and utsavas conducted in the temple are those usually conducted in public temples ? (5) Have the m ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he position of the manager of the temples was that of a trustee. Their Lordships further, added that if it had been shown that the temples had originally been private temples they would have been slow to hold that the admission of the public in later times possibly owing to altered conditions would affect the private character of the trusts. In Deoki Nandan v. Murlidar [1956]1SCR756 this Court observed that the issue whether a religious endowment is a public or a private one is a mixed question of law and fact, the decision of which must depend on the application of legal concepts of a public and private endowment to the facts found. Therein it was further observed that the distinction between a public and private endowment is that whereas in the former the beneficiaries, which means the worshippers are specific individuals and in the later the general public or class thereof. In that case the plaintiff sought to establish the true scope of the dedication from the user of the temple by the public. In Narayan Bhagwant Rao Gosavi Balajiwale v. Gopal Vinayak Gosavi and Ors. [1960]1SCR773 this Court held that the vastness of the temple, the mode of its construction, the long user of th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s not possible to come to a positive conclusion that the suit temple originated as a public temple nor there is any conclusive evidence before us to determine the date of its origin. All that we can say is that the origin of this temple is lost in antiquity. Therefore for determining whether it is a public temple or not we must depend on other circumstances. 19. It is established by the evidence on record that Gokulnathji is neither the Nidhi Swaroop nor Seva Swaroop of Mathuranathji's branch. Therefore it is unlikely that Mathuranathji branch would have installed the idol of Shree Gokulnathji for their private worship though the idol of Shree Gokulnathji is one of the Swaroops of Lord Krishna. The plea taken by the appellant that Gokulnathji was one of the Nidhi Swaroop given to the branch of Maturanathji by Vallabha is opposed to the documentary evidence produced by herself. That plea has not been pressed before us for our acceptance. 20. From the account books produced in this case, it is clear that ever since 1965 two sets of accounts had been maintained by the Maharaj, one relating to the temple and another relating to him. The temple accounts are referred to as Nic ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of the suit temple. Originally this Laga was separately recovered from the devotees by the Maharaj but later on at the request of the merchants the same used to be recovered by the Government alongwith the custom duty and made over to Maharaj for the benefit of the temple. Therein it was prayed that the newly established municipality should be directed to collect the Laga alongwith its dues and make up over to the Maharaj. That application was signed by a large number of persons. That application inter alia states : There is a temple of Shree Gokulnathji at Nadiad. A son of our preceptor, Shree Goswami Mathuranathji performs the seva in the said temple. Our ancestors have granted for his expenses from the town a laga on several articles which may be received, a list whereof is enclosed herewith. The signatories to that application must have been familiar with the history of the suit temple. We can reasonably assume that the facts stated therein are correct. Those facts support the case of the plaintiffs. 24. We next go to the entries in the account books. In the temple accounts for the year 1870, there is a credit entry of ₹ 27/4/- It is in respect of the fine impos ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d to the temple accounts and ₹ 5 to the Maharaj's personal account. The account books clearly show the various presents made to the temple as well as to the Maharaj. 25. It is established by evidence that in 1896 when the question of taxing the income of the Maharaj came up for consideration, the Maharaj pleaded that the income of the temple cannot be treated as his income. The balance sheets prepared in that connection showed the income of the temple separately from that of the Maharaj. The correspondence that passed between the Maharaj and the authorities in that connection establishes beyond doubt that the Maharaj did not treat the income of the temple as his income. The contention that the admission in question was made under wrong advice receives no support from the evidence on record. Similarly with regard to the payment of the municipal tax, the properties of the Maharaj had been treated separately from that of the temple. 26. In 1907 one Shah Chaganlal made a gift of some property to the temple. That property was subject to a mortgage. The donor directed that the Maharaj of the temple should divide the annual income of the mortgaged property into nine shares ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ha School. The suit temple appears to be an important temple attracting a large number of devotees. Utsavas and other festivals are performed in that temple in a reasonably grand scale. The devotees as well as the Maharaj were treating that temple as a public temple. From the facts proved we have no hesitation in agreeing with the High Court that the temple in question is a public temple. 29. This takes us to the question whether all or any of the properties detailed in the plaint schedule are proved to be that of the temple. We have earlier come to the conclusion that the temple has been getting substantial contributions from its devotees in diverse ways. It was also the recipient of several gifts. It had adequate resources to make the acquisitions with which we are concerned in this case. The temple is exclusively managed by the Goswamiji Maharaj. It maintains regular accounts. Maharaj also maintains his separate accounts. Therefore it was easy for the appellant to prove the source from which the acquisitions in question were made and how their income was treated. The appellant has led no evidence to show that they were her own properties. She has failed to produce some of the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 1868. The gift is purported to have been made in favour of the Maharaj but the income from this property has always been credited to the temple accounts, the earliest entry being that of the year 1870. In the property register, this property is shown as temple property and the rent note Exh. 535 is taken in the name of the Vahivatdar of Shree Gokulnathji. Hence this item of the property should also be held to be that of the temple. 34. Lot No. 6 consists of 14 small items of property. They are all agricultural fields. They have been shown in the property register as the properties of the temple. Out of 14 items in this lot, items Nos. 6, 9, 11, 12 and 14 originally belonged to the Maharaj but they have been all along dealt with by the Maharaj as temple property. Item No. 1 in lot No. 6 belongs to the temple. The mortgage Exh. 608 relates to this item and the same was executed in favour of the temple on May 17, 1897. A rent note in respect of this property was taken on April 22, 1915 in the name of the Vahivatdar of the temple. Items 2, 3 and 4 of that lot are shown in the record of rights in the name of the Maharaj but the income from those properties and the expenses incurred f ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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