IDOL SHRI SHRIJI Vs. CHATURBHAI MANGALBHAI PATEL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE order in this civil revision shall also govern the disposal of civil revision No. 463 of 1961.

(2.) CHATURBHAI Mangalbhai Patel of Bombay obtained a money decree for about Rs. 3,40,000/- inclusive of interest and costs against Goswamini Ratan Prabha widow of Goswami Vallabhalalji of Bombay as the heir and legal representative of her deceased husband, the original judgment-debtor. Thereafter, having got the said decree transferred to Bhopal for execution, he sought to execute it by attachment and sale of the suit properties. These properties have been specifically mentioned in the decree as belonging to the judgment-debtor.

(3.) LAXMINARAYAN and Purushottamdas as next friends of the applicant, Idol Shri 'shriji' of Mandir Shriji, Bhopal, filed a suit (civil suit No. 19-A of 1961) for a declaration and injunction against the aforesaid decree-holder, Chaturbhai mangalbhai and Goswamini Ratan Prabha, as defendants 1 and 2 respectively, in the Court of the Civil Judge, Class II, Bhopal, inter alia, on the following allegations: (a) that the suit properties were the properties of the applicant Idol as they were dedicated to it by a public religious and charitable endowment; (b) that the judgment-debtor Vallabhalalji was only a shebait of the said public endowment; (c) that the said shebait never incurred any loan for the purpose of keeping up the religious worship or for the benefit and preservation of the property of the idol; and (d) that the decree obtained by the decree-holder Chaturbhai mangalbhai against the shebait Goswami Vallabhalalji or Goswamini ratan Prabha was personal against them and could not be executed against the property of the idol.