DHIRENDRA SINGH Vs. DHANAI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS appeal by the plaintiffs arises out of a suit filed under Sec. 92 of the Civil P. C. On contest the suit was dismissed by the District Judge, Faizabad.

(2.) THE allegations in the plaint are these; THEre existed an old public Math situate in village Agthara Narayanpur, Pargana Birhar, Tahsil Tanda district Faizabad. Within the Math there is a public temple in which are installed the "deities" of Shri Sitaram Ji Maharaj and Hanuman Ji etc. For the upkeep of the Math and maintenance of the Seva, Puja, Utsav and Samaiya of the said deities, over and above the seasonal contributions of the produce of lands, immovable property comprising lands in the villages detailed in Schedules A to E attached to the plaint inclusive of groves detailed in the said Schedules were endowed by the ancestors of the plaintiffs Nos. 1 to 4 to the Math and the deities installed therein. Ever since the endowment which had taken place long before the British period the income and the produce of the said lands and property were used for the aforesaid purpose. Shri Rachpal Giri Virakt Chela of Shri Ram Ratan Giri who was impleaded as defendant No. 1 in the suit was said to have succeeded his Guru Shri Ram Ratan Giri in 1925 A. D. Due to the extreme weakness and infirmity of old age he became incapable of properly managing the property and its income and was completely in the hands of his Mukhtar and nephew Dhanai and his wife and children for whom he has built a new house mentioned in Schedule 'a'. In order to secure cash sums as much as possible by the transfer and collusive decrees of landed property of the Math Dhanai got several transfer deeds executed by the defendant No. 1 in his favour and others. THE defendant No. 1 also executed a sale-deed dated 26-6-1959 in favour of the defendants Nos. 2 to 4 for a consideration of Rs. 5,000. 00 with respect to the land of village Agathara mentioned in Schedule 'b' of the plaint though there was no justification for the same. THE defendant No. 1 also parted with immoveable property of village Rampur district Azamgarh mentioned in Schedule 'a' by entering into collusive decrees. He was thus out to waste the entire property; hence it became necessary to file the suit for the reliefs mentioned in the plaint. THE suit was contested by the defendants. THE defendant No. 1 filed his written statement denying the various allegations made against him in the plaint. He asserted that the property is not a public trust nor did it belong to any math. He also stated that he was a Gosain and his ancestor's house was situate outside the Abadi area of the village where there was no temple or Thakurdwars. THEre was only one Kachcha house of defendant No. 1 which was not a Math nor it could be said, to be a public Math. He denied that the idols of the deities Thakur Ji and Hanuman Ji were installed in any temple as alleged. Further he stated that the entire land in dispute was personally acquired by his ancestor Bhakhtawar Giri Gosain and he was the absolute owner thereof in personal capacity. No part of the disputed property was ever the property of a Math or a public Math. THE suit was said to be not maintainable under Section 92 of the Civil P. C. He also contended that for the last several decades the plaintiffs had been making effort to deprive him of his properties but had failed to do so. He referred to various cases which had been filed in that connection and denied that any of the properties in dispute ever belonged to the ancestors of the plaintiffs or to the plaintiffs themselves. THE defendants Nos. 2 to 4 also contested the suit and filed a separate written statement repudiating various allegations made in the plaint. Replications were thereafter filed by the plaintiffs. On the pleadings of the parties the following issues were framed by the learned District Judge :- 1. Whether the plaintiffs have a right of suit? 2. Whether there is any public Math in village Agthara Narainpur and the properties detailed in list 'b' are properties endowed to the said Math?

(3.) WHETHER it is necessary to have a scheme of management for the Math If so, what should be the details thereof?