Case: Commissioner For Hindu Religious &amp; Charitableendowments, My Vs. Ratnavarma Heggade (Deceased) By His L.Rs

and is so inseparably connected with it that it is its integral part. It cannot therefore be held that the Manjunatha temple is an "endowment" within the meaning of clause (11) of Section 9 of the Act for it has not been proved that any property belongs to it, or has been given or endowed for its support or for the performance of any service or charity connected therewith, or that it has any such premises of its own as could be said to form its own endowment.21. It would follow from what has been said above that even if the Manjunatha temple is assumed to be a place used, as of right, for public religious worship by Hindus, it could come under the purview of the Act only if it could be established that it was a religious endowment within the meaning of Section 2, but this has not been proved to be so. On the other hand it appears that the present institution of Dharmasthal was originally a Jain religious and charitable institution to which property was endowed by the ancestors of the present Heggade who was himself a Jain. It was that endowment which spread and gained more and more importance over the years because of the offerings made largely by Hindu and Jain devotees and worshipers. But it has not been established that there is any endowment which could be said to belong exclusively to Manjunatha temple. Even if any such endowment was made by someone in the name of Manjunatha temple (as stated by K. C. Nambayar RW 3), it was taken to be an endowment for the entire institution known as Dharmasthal and was treated as such. The Manjunatha temple cannot therefore be said to be a Hindu religious endowment within the meaning of Section 2. The provisions of the Act are not applicable to it, and the Board clearly erred in holding otherwise.22. It has been argued by Mr. Chowdhary for the appellant that generally speaking Hindus include Jains. According to him, the underlying assumptions in the Act is that Jains are also Hindus, and that the fact that Jains also worship in a Hindu temple will not detract from the fact that it is a Hindu temple as it is not necessary that a Hindu temple should be a place exclusively for Hindu public religious worship. Reference in this connection has been made to All India Sai Samaj (Registered) by its President D. Bhima Rao, Mylapore v. Deputy Commissioner for Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (Administration) Department, Madras-34, [(1967) 2 MLJ 618 (Mad)]; State of Madras by the Secretary, Revenue Department, Madras v. Urumu Seshachalam Chettiar Charities, Tiruchirapalli, by its Board of Trustees [(1960) 2 MLJ 591 (Mad) and S. Kannan v. All India Sai Samaj (Registered) by its President, D. Bhima Rao, Mylapore [(1974) 1 MLJ 174 (Mad)]. It will be sufficient to say that what Section 9(12) of the Act requires by way of definition of a temple is that for purposes of the Act a temple should be dedicated for public religious worship, as of right, and it would not detract from its character as such if Jains also worship there. The argument of Mr. Chowdhary is, however, futile because, as has been mentioned, the provisions of the Act will not be attracted to the Manjunatha temple in the absence of any evidence to prove the existence of an endowment for it.23. It has next been argued by Mr. Chowdhary that unless the temple of Manjunatha could be shown to be a Jain endowment, it would come within the definition of temple in the Act. This argument has only to be stated to be rejected because, as has been shown, there is no evidence to show that there is any endowment for the Manjunatha temple as such, and the temple is a part and parcel of Dharmasthal which came to be endowed in the facts and circumstances mentioned above.24. An ancillary argument has been made that an inference of Hindu endowment for the benefit of the public should be drawn from the facts that the deity belongs to the Hindu Trinity, the architecture of the temple is that of a Hindu temple, the rituals are performed by brahmins according to Hindu form of worship and honey is used for "abhisheka" which is contrary to the Jain form of worship. We have already assumed that the temple possesses the characteristics which make it a Hindu temple, but even so there is no justification for the argument that there is any endowment for it as such.25. Then it has been argued by Mr. Chowdhary that Manjunatha temple is not an "adjunct" to the composite institution of Dharmasthal for it is the most important temple in the campus. It has been urged that mere common management and control cannot justify the argument that Manjunatha temple is an inseparable part of the Dharmasthal. It is not necessary to examine this argument once again, for we have given our reasons for taking a contrary view.26. Another argument of Mr. Chowdhary is that formal dedication of the endowment to the temple of Manjunatha was not necessary and that its user by the Hindus as of right would be enough to prove the initial dedication. Reliance for the argument has been placed on B. K. Mukherjea on the Hindu Law of Religious and Charitable Trusts, third edition, page 27, which makes a mention of the rituals to be observed when a donor wants to consecrate a temple and establish a deity in it. It may be that, in a given case, it may be difficult to prove the original dedication because of the lapse of considerable time but, in the present case it would not be possible to conclude that there was any such dedication because there is nothing to show how Vadiraja Swamiar, who installed the lingam in Manjunatha temple, could be said to be a donor when the property did not belong to him.

Decision (1 = appeal accepted, 0 = rejected): 0

Explanation:
0[ds]It will be sufficient to say that what Section 9(12) of the Act requires by way of definition of a temple is that for purposes of the Act a temple should be dedicated for public religious worship, as of right, and it would not detract from its character as such if Jains also worship there. The argument of Mr. Chowdhary is, however, futile because, as has been mentioned, the provisions of the Act will not be attracted to the Manjunatha temple in the absence of any evidence to prove the existence of an endowment forfor the argument has been placed on B. K. Mukherjea on the Hindu Law of Religious and Charitable Trusts, third edition, page 27, which makes a mention of the rituals to be observed when a donor wants to consecrate a temple and establish a deity in it. It may be that, in a given case, it may be difficult to prove the original dedication because of the lapse of considerable time but, in the present case it would not be possible to conclude that there was any such dedication because there is nothing to show how Vadiraja Swamiar, who installed the lingam in Manjunatha temple, could be said to be a donor when the property did not belong to him.It therefore appears that the High Court was justified in taking the view that Manjunatha temple is part and parcel of the composite institution known as Dharmasthal and is so inseparably connected with it that it is its integral part. It cannot therefore be held that the Manjunatha temple is an "endowment" within the meaning of clause (11) of Section 9 of the Act for it has not been proved that any property belongs to it, or has been given or endowed for its support or for the performance of any service or charity connected therewith, or that it has any such premises of its own as could be said to form its own endowment.21. It would follow from what has been said above that even if the Manjunatha temple is assumed to be a place used, as of right, for public religious worship by Hindus, it could come under the purview of the Act only if it could be established that it was a religious endowment within the meaning of Section 2, but this has not been proved to be so. On the other hand it appears that the present institution of Dharmasthal was originally a Jain religious and charitable institution to which property was endowed by the ancestors of the present Heggade who was himself a Jain. It was that endowment which spread and gained more and more importance over the years because of the offerings made largely by Hindu and Jain devotees and worshipers. But it has not been established that there is any endowment which could be said to belong exclusively to Manjunatha temple. Even if any such endowment was made by someone in the name of Manjunatha temple (as stated by K. C. Nambayar RW 3), it was taken to be an endowment for the entire institution known as Dharmasthal and was treated as such. The Manjunatha temple cannot therefore be said to be a Hindu religious endowment within the meaning of Section 2. The provisions of the Act are not applicable to it, and the Board clearly erred in holding otherwise.