Case: Sri Gedela Satchidananda Murthy(D)By Lrs Vs. Dy. Commnr.,Endowments Deptt.,A.P

One Gedela Appala Swamy Naidu was owner of a piece of land measuring 81 x 70 sq. yards situated in a secluded locality on the hills situated at village Simhachalam. He died leaving behind him his wife Atchamamba and son G. Satchidananda Murthy (Plaintiff No. 1). He was buried in the same property. A Samadhi was constructed thereon by his son. Plaintiff No. 1 shifted his residence at the said property. In or about 1976, he installed statutes of Appala Swamy Naidu and Shri Veera Bhoja Vasantha Rayalu who was the guru of his father. The Guru of Appala Swamy Naidu and Appala Swamy Naidu himself had a large number of disciples. The idol of Godess Gayatri Devi was also installed. It was named as "Sri Simha Saila Puri Virat Guru Mandiram" and "Sri Simha Saila Puri Gayatri Peetam".2. Allegedly, after the death of Appala Swamy Naidu, the said property was being managed by his brother Suryanarayana Naidu. When Smt. Atchamamba, wife of Appala Swamy Naidu died in the year 1979, her dead body was buried by the side of her husband in the same compound. A tomb was also constructed.3. A notice was issued by Respondent No. 1 as to why the plaintiffs should not apply for registration of the temple/institution as a public institution within the meaning of Sections 38 and 39 of the A.P. Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments Act, 1966 (for short "the Act").4. An application was filed before Respondent No. 1 for deletion of the said institution from the list of Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowment. The said application was dismissed by an order dated 14.12.1982. In arriving at the said decision, a large number of documents as also a report of the Assistant Commissioner Endowments, Anakapalli and statements of some persons including one Satyanarayana, the first cousin of the original Plaintiff No. 1, were taken into consideration.5. A suit was filed by the appellant in terms of the provisions of Section 78 of the Act. By a judgment and order dated 31.12.1984, the said suit was decreed. Respondents filed a first appeal before the High Court of Andhra Pradesh. The said appeal has been allowed by reason of the impugned judgment.

Court's reasoning:
17. Religious practices vary from State to State, region to region, place to place and sect to sect. When the legislature makes a legislation, the existing state of affairs and the basis on which such legislation has been made would be presumed to have been known to it. Whereas the property for construction of a Samadhi or tomb by itself may not amount to a permanent dedication involving public character of such institution, a distinction must be borne in mind about a tomb constructed on the Samadhi of an ordinary man and a saintly person. In a case falling within the latter category, the answer to the question, in our opinion, should be rendered in the affirmative.In Dhaneshwarbuwa Guru Purshottambuwa, owner of Shri Vithal Rukhamai Sansthan v. The Charity Commissioner, State of Bombay [(1976) 2 SCC 417] , this Court opined that while each case of endowment as to the character of temple would depend on the history, tradition and facts, the presence of the features enumerated therein may be held to be sufficient to hold that the same satisfies the tests which were required to be fulfilled in arriving at a decision that the temple in question was a public trust.22. We are not, however, oblivious of the fact that only because members of the public are freely admitted to the temple, that by itself would not be sufficient to come to the conclusion that the temple was a publicDeoki Nandan v. Murlidhar this Court considered the principles of law applicable to a determination of the question whether an endowment is public or private, and observed:"The cardinal point to be decided is whether it was the intention of the founder that specified individuals are to have the right of worship at the shrine, or the general public or any specified portion thereof. In accordance with this theory, it has been held that when property is dedicated for the worship of a family idol, it is a private and not a public endowment, as the persons who are entitled to worship at the shrine of the deity can only be the members of the family, and that is an ascertained group of individuals. But where the beneficiaries are not members of a family or a specified individual, then the endowment can only be regarded as public, intended to benefit the general body ofof the facts which was held in that case to indicate that the endowment was public was that the idol was installed not within the precincts of residential quarters but in a separate building constructed for that very purpose on a vacant site. We do not suggest that such a fact is by itself decisive of the question. The fact that the temple is outside the dwelling house is only a circumstance in favour of it being regarded a public temple, particularly in Madras (except Malabar); there are, however, private temples in Bengal which are built outside the residential houses of donors (see the Hindu Law of Religious and Charitable Trust, Tagore Law Lectures by the late Dr B.K. Mukherjea, 1952 Edn., p. 188).In the case before us, the two temples were constructed outside the residential quarters, but that is only one of the relevant circumstances. We must construe the deed of trust with reference to all its clauses and so construed, we have no doubt that the trusts imposed constitute a public endowment. There is one other point to be noticed in this connection. The deed of trust in the present case is in the English form and the settlor has transferred the properties to trustees who are to hold them for certain specific purposes of religion and charity; that in our opinion is not decisive but is nevertheless a significant departure from the mode a private religious endowment is commonly made.In Goswami Shri Mahalaxmi Vahuji v. Ranchhoddas Kalidas [(1969) 2 SCC 853] , this CourtYet 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 Vallabhas son and his immediate successor Vithaleshwar had laid down a plan for the construction of temples by the VallabhaHe 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 Mohammedan 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 the Vallabha Sampradayees that theis used as the place of worship and the first floor as the residence of Goswami Maharaj. Therefore the fact that Gokulnathji temple at Nadiad had the appearance of a residential house does not in any manner militate against the contention that the temple in question is a public temple.In the instant case, the dedication was made even according to the appellants long back. Constructions for residential purposes were made thereafter. It is not a case where the dedication of the property occurred subsequent to the constructions of the residential houses. It is also not a case where the idol was installed inside the residential premises.We, therefore, in view of the decisions of this Court, are of the opinion that merely because the appellant has a residential house in the portion of the property which is the subject matter of the trust, the same is not outside the purview of the Act.