A.P. SUBRAMANIA GOUNDER Vs. K. KANDASWAMI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The short question raised in this Revision Case is whether a certificate of the Deputy Commissioner of the Hindu Religious Endowments Board, is required, when a trustee seeks for delivery of possession, under s. 101 of Madras Act XXII of 1959 in regard to the records and accounts of a temple. That section says that a trustee or executive officer of a religious institution etc., shall on application before a Magistrate and on production of the order of appointment and where the application is for possession of property, of a certificate by the Commissioner in the prescribed form setting forth that the property in question belongs to the religious institution, direct delivery, to the person appointed, of the possession of such religious institution, or the records, accounts and properties thereof, as the case may be.

(2.) The Magistrate, in this case, directed delivery of possession both of the institution as well as of the records and accounts. The petitioner, who is an ex-trustee, contends that, the records and accounts are also properties of the temple and that therefore, without a certificate from the Deputy Commissioner, delivery of possession of records and accounts cannot be ordered. The short question for consideration is whether, for the purpose of s. 101, the word "properties" in regard to which production of a certificate by the commissioner is enjoined will include the records and accounts. No doubt, on a broad view of the term, records and accounts are also property. But the section has used the term, religious institution, records, accounts and properties treating them as distinct units. Therefore to find out whether records and accounts should be clubbed with properties, for the purpose of the requirement of the certificate, we should look at the language of the section as a whole, to find out what the Legislature meant by that term. The three provisos and especially the Second and Third Provisos provide a clue as to what the word "properties" should mean in the context. The Second and Third Provisos read thus;

(3.) The certificate follows an enquiry and investigation enjoined by the section itself, to be conducted by the Deputy Commissioner, to find out whether the properties in question belong to the religious institution. The Third Proviso goes further and gives a right to the person aggrieved by the order of the Commissioner to resort to a Civil suit, for establishing his title to the property. So far as accounts and records of a temple are concerned, ordinarily, they will exhibit on their face that they appertain to the temple. There could be no question of any investigation, as to whether they belong to the institution and there could be no need to file a suit for establishing the title of the institution to such records or accounts.