K P KESHAVA RAO Vs. NATHRAVATI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal against the decree of the Subordinate Judge of South Kanara in O.S. No. 60 of 1920 on his file. The suit was to recover certain moveable and immovable properties, for an account of the management of the plaint mentioned trust and for damages. Defendant 1 is the person against whom the claim was mainly made. The Subordinate Judge dismissed the suit and hence the appeal to us by the plaintiff.

(2.) The suit from which this appeal arises was brought in connexion with a family trust created by the members of the family in the year 1867, under a registered document Ex. A. Under that document, they set apart the plaint properties for the performance of certain viniyogas mentioned in the document and of certain ceremonies in connexion with the newly consecrated idol of Krishna Devaru, the family god. It was provided in that document, which was a document executed by four members who had acquired the properties themselves, that they and their descendants should perform the puja and devatarchana, that, for that purpose, they should learn the rules necessary for such performance and that they must themselves get the benefit of the naivedya of the devaru carried on out of the income of the said properties, and it was also provided that any one not knowing the rules of worship should neither be entitled to perform the puja nor to nominate another person in his place nor to obtain the said benefits on such pretext and it was also provided that the person who is the ejman in the family should cause the puja to be conducted according to the rules. This is a purely private trust for the family. The trust was carried out for about 13 years, when the difficulty of carrying on the trust seems to have been felt by all the members of the family under the original terms and, therefore, they made a reference to certain arbitrators to settle what would be the best arrangement for carrying on the trust in future.

(3.) The award that was made is marked as Ex. G. Under that award, practically the same arrangement as before was continued. Ananthayya who was then the ejman of the family as a whole was directed to keep in his possession all the properties, no doubt for the trust, and enjoy them and it was ruled that no other member of the family should have any right to obstruct or to interfere in his enjoyment. This was in 1880. The award stated that all the members of the family had the right of living in the house, in which the idol was consecrated and which was apparently the family house of the parties. This arrangement seems to have gone on till the year 1897. But it could not be carried on properly, the members finding it difficult to abide by the terms of this arrangement. Ananthayya had, in the meanwhile, handed over the management of the trust to his nephew, one Narayana Rao. We, therefore, have their another reference to arbitration, this time to one of the leading vakils in South Kanara, Mr. A. Subba Rao. The muchilika submitting this question to arbitration is Ex. 11 and is signed by Ananthayya and a number of other members of the family, apparently all the then adult members who could speak on behalf of the family at the time. It says that disputes had arisen among them in respect of the enjoyment of the immovable properties set apart for the viniyoga, etc., of the family god Krishna and asks the arbitrator to decide what would be the best arrangement for the carrying out of the family trust.