LexRAMBIR DAS AND ANR. versus KALYAN DAS AND ANR.
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A B c RAMBIR DAS AND ANR. v. KALYAN DAS AND ANR. FEBRUARY 19, 1997 [K. RAMASWAMY AND S. SAGHIR AHMAD, JJ.] Hindu Law: Religious and Charitable Tmsts : Shebaitship-Succession to--Temple property-Original founder died leaving behi11d four chelas but without laying down a11y line of succes- sion-Last serving chela exernted a will nominati11g the plaintiff's (sons of another Che la) as She baits of Temple-Later he ca11celled the will and D adopted defe11da11ts as his Che/as-After his death plaintiffs filed suit for declaration that they succeeded as Shebaits of the Temple-Suit decreed a11d decree co11fim1ed in appeaf--High Court held that cancellation of will was valid as /fither of plaintiffs ceased to be a Bairagi after marriage; and that nomination in favour of defendants was invalid as they were minors, and therefore, the property became escheat--Held, the estate does not become an E F es cheat but it continues to remain vested in the deity and the Shebaits remains in charge of the management of the property-The right of manage- ment should go either in the order of succession given by the original founder, or in its absence, in the line of intestate succession--Plaintiffs are entitled to ~ act as Shebaits as the founder did not lay down the line of succession-The Che/as did not exercise their power to appoint a Shebait-Since the last serving Che/a died issueless the property would go to the heirs of his brother, the other Che/a-The last serving chela did not reserve any right to cancel/ the nomination of the plaintiffs-Jn the case of nomination of a Shebai~ nomination takes effect from the date of its execution and the nominee G becomes entitled to go into office as a Shebait after the demise of the last chela-A chela cannot be adopted but can be nominate~hela nominated must be one who is independent and capable to renounce worldly affairs or capable to adopt himself as Bairagi-A minor cannot be nominated as Che/a-There is no plea nor proof that a married person is not emitted to be H the Shebait. 210 \ ,- RAMBIRDASv. KALYANDAS 211 Baba Kartar Singh Bedi v. Dayal Das & Ors., AIR (1939) PC 201, A referred to. "Hindu law of Religious and Charitable Trust" Tagore Law Lec- tures-1936, Justice, B.K. Mukherjee, May1le's Hindu Law & Usage, 14th edn., p. 965 "Entrance into religious order", referred to. CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 947 of 1980 Etc. From the Judgment and Order dated 19.3.80 of the Allahabad High Court in S.A. No. 1940 of 1977. A.B. Rohtagi, D.R. Nigam, Vipin Nair, Rajiv Dutta and K.K. Mohan for the Appellants and Respondent in C.A. No. 4173/83. Mrs. Rachna Gupta, P.K Bajaj and Mrs. Rani Chhabra for the Respondents. The following Order of the Court was delivered : CA. No. 947 of 1980 B c D This appeal by special leave arises from the judgment dated 19th March, 1980 passed by the learned Single Judge of the High Court of E Allahabad in SA No. 1940 of 1977. The admitted position is that one Hari Das owned considerable properties situated in the town Khair of Aligarh District which is part of Schedule 'B' attached to the Plaint. He constructed a temple, by name Shri Jugal Kishoreji Maharaj Mandir. Therein, the principal deity is Lord F Krishna & Radha. He endowed all his properties to the Mandir. During his life time, he was in-charge of the temple as def acto trustee and he did seva (service) and pooja to the deity. After the abolition of the estate under the U.P. Zamindari Abolition & Land Reforms Act, 1950, Bhumidari rights in the properties were conferred on the deity Lord G Krishna and Radha. Hari Dass left behind him four chelas by name, Narian Das, Bansi Dass, Manohar Dass and Ram Dass alias Ram Chander Ap- pellant No. 1 Rambir Das and his Brother Har Govind Das are sons of Ram Dass. Bansi Dass, the last serving chela, had executed a Wil~ Ex. B-19 on 9.2.1955 whereunder he nominated the plaintiff and his brother as H 212 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1997) 2 S.C.R. A Shebaits of the Mandir. During his life time by Deed of Adoption dated January 6, 1966, Ex. A-45 cancelled the Will and adopted defendant Nos. 1and2 as his chelas. Bansi Dass died on February 3, 1969. Thereafter, the disputes arose between the appellants and the respondents as to who would be entitled to succeed to the Shebaitship of the Mandir. It is not necessary B to dilate upon the proceedings that went on in the Criminal Court and in the. suit.
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