PRAMODHAN BIHARI SARAN Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is a Letters Patent appeal from an order of the late Chaturvedi J. rejecting an application filed by the appellants under Article 226 of the Constitution of India for the issue of writ of certiorari to quash an order dated 30th October 1956 of the erstwhile Vindhya Pradesh Government (constituting a committee of five persons for the management of the) 'Bara Akhara' Trust, Maihar.

(2.) IN their application under Article 226 of the Constitution, the petitioners stated that one Shri Sakkendraju Maharaj, who was an exponent and follower of Madhava Sampradaya of Hindu religion, came from Jaipur to Maihar some two hundred years back and founded a Math at Maihar known as "Shri Ram Sakhendra Ju Ka Akhara"; that he installed an image of 'Ram -Janki' in the Akhara which used to be worshipped by the followers of the Sampradaya; that several persons endowed properties to the Akhara and the then Ruler of Maihar also gave a village for the maintenance of the Akhara and the worship of the deity; and that after the death of Mahant Ram Rangile, the petitioner Pramodhan Bihari Saran became the Mahant of the Math. The petitioners proceeded to say that soon after Pramodhan Bihari Saran became the Mahant, the Vindhya Pradesh Government advised him to form a trust committee for the proper management of the Akhara and the properties attached to it; that acting on this suggestion the "Bara Akhara" trust was formed and was registered as a society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860; that on the formation of this society in 1951, a committee for the management of the Akhara and its properties was formed in accordance with the memorandum of Registration of the society; and that in September 1955 the Tahsildar of Maihar began to interfere with the management of the Akhara and ultimately on the 30th October 1956 the Government of Vindhya Pradesh constituted a committee for the effective management of the Akhara and asked the petitioner to hand over the management and the properties of the Akhara to the new committee. The petitioners contended that the Vindhya Pradesh Government had no power to appoint any such committee and to order the petitioner Pramodhan Bihari Saran, who was the President of the committee constituted in accordance with the memorandum of association of the society registered under the the Act of 1860, to hand over the management of the Akhara and its properties to the new committee.

(3.) SHRI Singh, learned counsel for the petitioners, submitted that sections 6 and 16 of the Act, which according to the learned single Judge gave the power to the Government, to appoint the impugned committee, did not in fact give any such power and that the petitioner Pramodhan Bihari Saran having been appointed as the President of the managing committee constituted in accordance with the memorandum of registration of the Bara Akhara Trust as a society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, his competency to challenge the validity of the committee formed by the Government could not be in doubt.