GURCHARAN PRASAD DIED Vs. P KRISHNANAND GIRI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE following Judgment of the court was delivered by

(2.) BOUNDED by the river Ganges on the cast, in the locality named Tripura Bhairvi of the temple studded city of Benaras there stands a math popularly known as Uttam Giri's Math, the origin of which is lost in antiquity. For well over a century this Math has been a sanctuary of a spiritual brotherhood of Nihang Dasnami Sanyasis. Claim is laid that they belong to one of the ten orders of Sanyasis founded by the chelas of the four disciples of the famous philosopher, Sankaracharya. Starting probably without any nucleus of endowed immovable property, the heads of the Math appear to have prospered enormously in matters material and temporal. Successive heads of the Math or Mahants as they were commonly known, seem to have been more keen about the acquisition of wealth and preservation of properties than about the furtherance of the spiritual benefit of the brotherhood. Gifts in the shape of endowments seldom came their way but the Mahants who uniformly pursued a money lending business also styled as a banking business in some of the documents, went on amassing wealth and property treating themselves as full owners thereof and directing their successors almost invariably nominated by their wills, to treat the property in the same way as they themselves were doing but paying scant regard to the cause of the brotherhood or the pursuit of any charitable purposes. One Mayanand Giri became the Mahant in 1904 and it is his acts and conduct which sparked off this litigation nearly forty years ago. The immediate cause of the legal proceedings was his marriage which led the plaintiff, Purushottamanand Giri, to file the suit in the court of the Subordinate Judge of Benaras claiming a declaration that by his marriage, the defendant No. 1, Mayanand Giri, had lost his right to continue as Mahant and that the plaintiff as his nearest collateral should, according to the custom of Nihang Dasnami Sanyasis, be put in occupation and possession of the Math the properties appertaining thereto. The plaintiff also challenged a number of alienations impleading no less than forty five persons as defendants and claiming that the transfers made by defendant No. 1 were invalid and not binding on the Mahant of the Math. The suit was contested not only by Mayanand Giri but also by a number of the transferees. The defences raised were many and various. The first defendant pleaded inter alia that the plaintiff was not his nearest collateral, that there did not exist a Math with the customs and usages alleged in the plaint and that all the properties scheduled in the plaint were not the subject matter of any endowment.

(3.) TWO appeals were filed against the judgment and decree of the Subordinate Judge, one by the plaintiff and the other by Mayanand. The Allahabad High court on appeal dismissed the suit on the view that there was no Math at all, that there was only a banking business and that the property was non- religious personal property acquired by Mayanand and his predecessors by following a banking business. A further appeal from the Allahabad High court was disposed of by this court by a judgment dated 20/12/1954. After noting in brief the conclusions of the Subordinate Judge and of the Allahabad High court, it was observed by this court that 'the short and only question therefore before us is, whether or not the existence of the math which is the foundation of the plaintiff's case has been satisfactorily made out.' This court then proceeded to examine the principal ancient documents and observed: 'All the above documents, broadly considered, indicate definitely- ,(1) the existence of a spiritual brotherhood affiliated to each other by ties of initiation and succession, (2) the existence of a mutt which is the residence of the brotherhood as well as of the gaddinashin thereof and which in specific terms has been successively provided as being inalienable, (3) the existence of certain properties at least from the date of death of Sheodat Gir which were made specifically inalienable in the hands of his successors, presumably for the use of the spiritual brotherhood, and (4) the existence of a number of items of property which in terms were dedicated for spiritual uses like Dharmashalas, feeding of ascetcis, etc. and were designated as waqf.' This court then considered the evidence of prior conduct of Mayanand Giri himself and certain admissions made by him and held 'that the case of the first defendant denying the existence of a mutt or of any properties as belonging to it is totally false.' According to this court 'it is quite clear that what is now designated as the mutt No. 42/90-D must have been in existence at least from the time of Prem Gir i.e. for over a century and that this item of property in the hands of successors of Prem Gir was subject to the condition of in- alienability, expressly provided in Premgir's Tamliknama, and impliedly so provided in the will of Sheodat Gir. Further 'notwithstanding that there is no specific deed of endowment, the fact that the particular building has been continuously used as the residence of the brotherhood, and the seat of the head thereof in succession and the fact that it has been specifically provided as being inalienable constitute sufficient evidence of dedication of this building as a mutt.'