# SRINIVASA REDDIAR AND OTIIERS v. N. RAMASWA'.\IY REDDIAR AND ANOTIIER

- **Citation:** [1966] 3 S.C.R. 120
- **Court:** Supreme Court of India
- **Decided:** 1965-12-16
- **Bench:** P. B. Gajendragadkar, K. N. Wanchoo, V. Ramaswami, P. Satyanarayana Raju
- **Source:** https://unisonlegal.in/judgment/supreme-court-of-india/srinivasa-reddiar-and-otiiers-v-n-ramaswa-iy-reddiar-and-anotiier-3676
- **Pages:** 14

## Headnote

Limitation Act (9 of 1908), Arr. 134-B-A/icnation by manager of
properties of religious enduwmenl as his ow11-Sui1 for declaration of
title by alienee-lf governed by article--Star1ing point of limitation.
The lands in dispute had been gran~ed in inam to a temple. By about
1929 1he then manager of lhe temple disposed of all
those propertiea
under various saJe-deedo;, resigned his position and left the village.
Ho
was therefore removed from the management of the 1cmple and
other
persons had 1aken up the position as de facto managers from 1929.
A:;
a result of successive alienation.o; of the properties. the appellants became
eolitlcd 10 1hem.
In 1951. lhe respondenls were appoimed truslees of
lhe temple and under the Madras Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowmenls Act, 1951. they applied, to the Magis1ra1e. for possession of the
properties and the Magislrate ordered delivery of possession.
Before the
order could be executed the appellant< filed the suit in 1954, for a declaration of their title to the properti~ and for an injunction restraining
the respondents from interfering vr'ith their possession.
The trial Court
and the lower appellate Court decreed the suit.
In second appeal. the
High Court held that the su;t was governed by Art. 134-B of the Limitation Act. 1908, which w3' introduced into the Act on 1st January 1929;
and that the appellants' claim in regard to the properties covered by the
sale-deeds of 1917 and 1926. should be rejected. because, the alienees
had not acquired title by ad>lerse possession by 1st January, 1929, and
as the alienor was still alive. the plea of adverse possession could not be
-;u.,tained under that article.
In appeal to this Court it was contended that article 134-B would not
apply to the pment case but that Art. 144 would apply, because.
the
1ransfers were effected by the alienor on the
representations
that the
properties belonged to him as his separate property; and that even if the
article applied, the decision of the High Court was erroneous, because
the transferor had hcen removed from management more than 12 yean
before the suit was filed.
HELD : Though Art. 134-B applied to the facts of the case, since
the appellants had acquired title to the propert'cs by prescription. the
decree passed by the High Court. in so far as it was against the appellants, should be set a~ide.
Column 1 of the article provides for suit, brought .. inter alia, by the
manager of a Hindu religious or charitable endowment to recover posses-
<1ion of immovable property comprised in the endowment,
which
has
beea transferred by a previous manager for valuable consideration. The
period prescribed for such suit< is 12 years. and the time from which the
period begins to run is the death. rcsiRnation or removal of the transferor.
The finding. recorded by the High Court in the present case show that
all the ingredient• prescribed by the first column of the Article namely :
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SRINIVASA v. RAMASWAMY (Gajendragadkar, C.I.)
121
(i) that the property belonged to the endowment, (ii) that it was transferred by a previous manager; and (iii) that the transfer was for valuable
consideration, were satisfied.
The character of the representations made
by the previous manager in regard to his relation with the property which
is the subject-matter of transfer, is irrelevant
for
the purpose of the
Article.
But if a suit had been brought by the respondents on the date
when they were appointed trustees, it would have been barred under the
Article, because more than 12 years had elapsed since the date of the
removal of the previous manager who had transferred the properties; and
therefore, the trial Court and the lower appellate Court were right in
.decreeing the appellants' suit in its entirety. [129 C-D, H; 132 HJ
Mahant Sudarsan Das v. Mahant Ram Kirpal Das cl Ors. L. R. 77
I.A. 42, applied.
CML APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 801 of
1963.
Appeal by special leave from the

## Text

SRINIVASA REDDIAR AND OTIIERS
v.
N. RAMASWA'.\IY REDDIAR AND ANOTIIER
December 16, 1965
[P. B. GAJENDRAGADKAR, C.J., K. N. WANCHOO,
V. RAMASWAMI AND P. SATYANARAYANA RAJU, JJ.)
Limitation Act (9 of 1908), Arr. 134-B-A/icnation by manager of
properties of religious enduwmenl as his ow11-Sui1 for declaration of
title by alienee-lf governed by article--Star1ing point of limitation.
The lands in dispute had been gran~ed in inam to a temple. By about
1929 1he then manager of lhe temple disposed of all
those propertiea
under various saJe-deedo;, resigned his position and left the village.
Ho
was therefore removed from the management of the 1cmple and
other
persons had 1aken up the position as de facto managers from 1929.
A:;
a result of successive alienation.o; of the properties. the appellants became
eolitlcd 10 1hem.
In 1951. lhe respondenls were appoimed truslees of
lhe temple and under the Madras Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowmenls Act, 1951. they applied, to the Magis1ra1e. for possession of the
properties and the Magislrate ordered delivery of possession.
Before the
order could be executed the appellant< filed the suit in 1954, for a declaration of their title to the properti~ and for an injunction restraining
the respondents from interfering vr'ith their possession.
The trial Court
and the lower appellate Court decreed the suit.
In second appeal. the
High Court held that the su;t was governed by Art. 134-B of the Limitation Act. 1908, which w3' introduced into the Act on 1st January 1929;
and that the appellants' claim in regard to the properties covered by the
sale-deeds of 1917 and 1926. should be rejected. because, the alienees
had not acquired title by ad>lerse possession by 1st January, 1929, and
as the alienor was still alive. the plea of adverse possession could not be
-;u.,tained under that article.
In appeal to this Court it was contended that article 134-B would not
apply to the pment case but that Art. 144 would apply, because.
the
1ransfers were effected by the alienor on the
representations
that the
properties belonged to him as his separate property; and that even if the
article applied, the decision of the High Court was erroneous, because
the transferor had hcen removed from management more than 12 yean
before the suit was filed.
HELD : Though Art. 134-B applied to the facts of the case, since
the appellants had acquired title to the propert'cs by prescription. the
decree passed by the High Court. in so far as it was against the appellants, should be set a~ide.
Column 1 of the article provides for suit, brought .. inter alia, by the
manager of a Hindu religious or charitable endowment to recover posses-
<1ion of immovable property comprised in the endowment,
which
has
beea transferred by a previous manager for valuable consideration. The
period prescribed for such suit< is 12 years. and the time from which the
period begins to run is the death. rcsiRnation or removal of the transferor.
The finding. recorded by the High Court in the present case show that
all the ingredient• prescribed by the first column of the Article namely :
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SRINIVASA v. RAMASWAMY (Gajendragadkar, C.I.)
121
(i) that the property belonged to the endowment, (ii) that it was transferred by a previous manager; and (iii) that the transfer was for valuable
consideration, were satisfied.
The character of the representations made
by the previous manager in regard to his relation with the property which
is the subject-matter of transfer, is irrelevant
for
the purpose of the
Article.
But if a suit had been brought by the respondents on the date
when they were appointed trustees, it would have been barred under the
Article, because more than 12 years had elapsed since the date of the
removal of the previous manager who had transferred the properties; and
therefore, the trial Court and the lower appellate Court were right in
.decreeing the appellants' suit in its entirety. [129 C-D, H; 132 HJ
Mahant Sudarsan Das v. Mahant Ram Kirpal Das cl Ors. L. R. 77
I.A. 42, applied.
CML APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 801 of
1963.
Appeal by special leave from the judgment and decree dated
September 2, 1959 of the Madras High Court in Second Appeal
No. 774 of 1957.
T. V. R. Tatachari, for the appellants.
P. Raghaviah and R. Ganapathy Iyer, for the respondents.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
Gajendragadkar, C • .J.
The present appeal has been brought
to this Court by special leave and it arises from a suit filed by the
appellants against four respondents.
The properties involved in
the suit consist of agricultural lands situated in Eragudi village,
Musiri taluk, Tiruchirappalli district. According to the appellants,
the said lands had been granted in Inani to the ancestor of one
Ambalathadum Pachai Kandai Udayavar by the Carnatic Rulers
before the advent of the British power in India. The original grant·
deeds are not available; but at the time of the settlement of the
Inams in the sixties of the last century, Inam title deeds 'were
issued in favour of the family of Pachai Kandai Udayavar. The
appellants averred that the properties covered by the grant had
been granted in Inam to the original grantee burdened with the
obligation ef performing certain services in a Matam. The said
properties were alienated from time to time, and as a result of the
last alienation, the appellants became entitled to them. The appellants in the present litigation claimed a declaration about their
title to the properties in suit and a permanent injunction restraining
respondents l to 3, who claimed to be the trustees of an alleged
Pachai Kandai Udayavar Temple at Eragudi, from interfering with
their possession of the same.
Respondent No. 4 is the Deputy
Commissioner, Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments,
L9Sup. Cl/66-9
122
SUPR.EMI! COURT
Rl!PORTS
(1966) 3 S.C.R.
Tiruchirappalli, and he has been impleaded because he has purported to appoint respondents I to 3 as trustees of the said alleged
Temple on the 7th March, 1951. This suit (No. 103 of 1954)
was instituted on the 13th September, 1954, under s. 87 of the
Madras Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act (No.
XIX of 1951) (hereinafter called 'the Act'), in the Court of the
District Munsif at Turai)11r.
Respondents 1 to 3 who have been appointed as trustees of the
said temple by respondent No. 4, obtained a certificate from him
that the properties in question belonged to the Temple; and on the
basis of the said certificate, they had filed an application before
the Magistrate having jurisdiction in the area under s. 87 of the
Act for possession. Notice of this application was served on the
appellants and they pleaded their own title to the properties. The
Magistrate, however, over-ruled the claim made by the appellants
and directed them to deliver possession of the properties to respondents 1 to 3.
Before this order could be eicecuted and possession
delivered to respondents 1 to 3, the appellants instituted the present suit.
Respondents 1 to 3 resisted this suit and contended that the
properties in suit had not been granted to the predecessor of
Pachai Kandai Udayavar as alleged by the appellants. Their case
was that the said properties had been granted to the Pachai Kandai
Udayavar Temple and fonned part of its properties. As trustees
appointed by respondent No. 4, they claimed that they were entitled
to the possession of the properties.
On these pleadings, four substantive issues were framed by
the learned trial Judge; they were : whether the grant of the Inam
was a personal Inam; whether the grant of the Inam was a religion~
endowment; whether plaintiffs have title to the suit properties; and
whether plaintiffs have acquired title by prescription? On the first
two issues, oral and documentary evidence was adduced by the
parties. The learned trial Judge examined the whole evidence and
c11me to the conclusion that the grant of the Inam was a personal
Inam, and that it was not a grant in favour of the religious endowment within the meaning of the Act. That is how the first two
issues were answered in favour of the appellants. In consequence.
the learned trial Judge also held that the appellants had proved
their title to the suit properties. The alternative plea made by the
appellants that they had acquired title to the properties by prescription, was also upheld by the trial Judge. In the result, the :i.ppellants' suit was decreed on the 14th February, 1955.
A
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SRINIVASA v. RAMASWAMY (Gajendragadkar, C.J.)
123Respondents 1 to 3 preferred an appeal (No. 129 of 1955)
in the Court of the Subordinate Judge at Tiruchirappalli, challenging the correctness of the said decree. The lower appellate Court
considered three main points; they were : whether the grant was
in favour of Ambalathadum Pachai Kandai Udayavar; whether
there is a temple; and whether the plaintiffs had prescribed thek
title to the suit properties by adverse possession. The lower
appellate Court made a finding against respondents 1 to 3 on
point No. 2.
It held that the evidence adduced by the respondents did not prove the existence of any temple in favour of
which the original grant had been alle'ged to have been made
according to them.
On that view, it thought it unnecessary to
consider the first point. In regard to the third point based on the
appellants' claim that they had acquired title by adverse possession,
the lower appellate Court found that "it was evident that from the
very beginning, Pachai Kandai Udayavar and his family had been·
claiming beneficial interest in the property and they were not holding the same as managers of the trust. The alienations must,
therefore, be regarded only as repudiation of the trust." In the
result, the lower appellate Court's finding was that the appellants
had established their claim of prescriptive title. The appeal preferred by respondents l to 3, therefore, failed and was dismissed
with costs on March 29, 1957.
This decision was challenged by respondents 2 & 3 before the
Madras High Court in Second Appeal
(NG. 774 of 1957).
Subrahmanyam, J., who heard this appeal, held that the original
grant had been made in favour of the Temple. There was evidence
to show that the properties originally granted had been resumed
F
by the Collector; but the learned Judge took the view that the said
resumption was only of the melwaram or assessment, and that
since the lands had been granted in Inam to the deity and its
matam, their title to the lands remained unaffected by the resumption proceedings.
In other words, he negatived the appellants'
claim that the original grant was in favour of their predecessors-inG
title, though burdened with an obligation to render service to the
matam.
The learned Judge reversed the finding of the lower
appellate Court that the existence of the Temple had not been
proved.
Having thus held that the properties belonged to the Temple,
the learned Judge proceeded to consider the ouestion of limitation
H
by reference to the several alienations with which the present litigation is concerned. In dealing with the question of limitation, the
learned Judge took the view that the present suit would be governed
124
SUPREME COU!lT REPORTS
(1966] 3 S.C.R.
by Article 134-B of the Indian Limitation Act.
111is article has
.been introduced in the said Act by Amending Act I of 1929 and
<:ame into force on 1-1-1929.
It was conceded before the lower
appellate Court that the new article was not retrospective in operation and that if the title of the alienees in regard to 'dharrnadayam'
properties had been acquired by adverse possession prior to
1-1-1929, it would not be affected by the provisions of Art. 134-B.
Thus considered, the alienations in regard to items 1, 2, part of
item 3, items 7 & 8, and a portion of the well in item 5 sold under
Ext. A-2 in 1914 were held to be outside the mis<:hief of Art. 134B. The possession of the vendees in regard to the properties covered
.by the said sale deed was held to have conferred title on them.
Similarly, item 4 and a part of item 6 which had been
sold in auction in execution of a decree in 1927 (vi de Ex ts. A-7
and A-8), were also held to be outside the scope of Art. 134-B,
because the said article does not cover auction sales.
That left the alienations covered by Exts. A-3, A-6 and A-12
to be considered. These three alienations were effected on the 7th
October, 1917, 2nd July, 1926, and 2nd July, 1926 respectively.
The High Court held that the properties covered by these saledeeds fell within the purview of Art. 134-B, and the appellants'
title in respect thereof was open to challenge. In the result, the
appellants• claim in regard to the properties covered by these three
sale-deeds was rejected, whereas their claim in regard to the other
properties was upheld.
In consequence the appeal preferred by
respondents 2 & 3 was partly allowed and the decree passed by the
lower appellate court in regard to Exts. A-3, A-6 and A-12 was
set aside. This judgment was pronounced on the 2nd September,
1959. It is against this decision that the appellants have come to
this Court by special leave.
Mr. Tatachari for the appellants has raised before us
lll1
interesting question of law. He contends that Art. 134-B would
not apply to the present case, because the alienatiot;1s evidenced
by Exts. A-3. A-6 and A-12 show that the alienors purported te
transfer the properties not as Poojaris or managers of a temple, but
in their individual character as owners of the said properties. The
documents recite that the properties belonged to the alienors as
their separate secular properties, though burdened with an
obligation to render service to the Matam; and that shows that the
transfer was effected not by the Poojaris of the temple, but by
persons who claimed that the properties belonged to them. Such
a case falls out1ide the purview of Art. 134-B and must be gov~
.by Art. 144 of the First Schedule to the Limitation Act.
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SRINIVASA v. RAMASWAMY (Gajendragadkar, CJ.)
125
A
Mr. Tatachari also argues that in applying Art. 144, we mmt
assume that the possession of the alienees was adverse to the temple
from the respective dates of the alienations when they were put in
possession of the properties covered by the transactions in question •
In support of this argument, Mr. Tatachari has relied on the statement of the law made by Mr. Justice Mukherjea in his lectures on
11
the Hindu Law of Religious and Charitable Trust. ( 1)
Says Mr .
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Justice Mukherjea, "if the transfer (of debutter property) is not of
particular items of property, but of the entire endowment with all
its properties, the possession of the transferee is unlawful from the
very beginning. The decisions in Gnanasambanda Pandora Sannadhi v. Ve/u Pandanam & Another(2 ) and Damodar Das v. Adhikari Lakham Das(') are illustrations of this type of cases."
He
also added that transfer would similarly be void and limitation
would run from the date of the transfer, if the manager transfers
the property as his own property and not as the property of the
deity. The same statement has been made by the learned author in
two other places in the course of his lectures .
The argument is that in cases falling under Art. 134-B, the
transfer made by the manager of a Hindu endowment is challenged
by his successor on the ground that it was beyond the auth~rity
of the manager; and such a challenge necessarily postulates that
E
the transfer was effected by the manager as manager purporti"g
to deal with the property as belonging to the religious en do·• m ~nt.
Where, however, the transfer is made by the manager not as manager, but as an individual, and he deals with'1te property n 1t on
the basis that it belongs to the religious endowment, but on the
basis that it belongs to himself, considerations which would govern
F the application of limitation are substantially different; and in such
a case, the transfer being void ab initio, the possession of the transferee is adverse from the date of the transfer. That is how Mr.
Tatachari has attempted to avoid the application of Art. 134-B in
the present case. There can be no doubt that if the a>sumption
made by Mr. Tatachari is well-founded, the appellant>' title to
G the three transactions in question would have to be upheld.
H
It is well-known that the law of limitation in regard to suits
instituted to set aside unauthorised· alienation of endowed property
by a Shebait or a Mahan! or a manager of a Hindu religious endowment was very uncertain prior to the decision of the Privy Council
(I) Mr. Justice B. K. Mukheriea on 'Hindu Law of Religious and Charitable
Trust" II Edn. (1962) p. 282.
(21 L.R. 27 I.A. 69.
(3) L.R. 37 I.A. 147-
- ·, '\. . \ .
\ .
·,. l26
, SUPREME COURT
REPORTS·--:~ (1966) 3 S.C.R.
.. \\
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.
.
.
in Vidya Varuthi Thirtha v. Ba/usamiAyyar & Others.(') That
A
• is why subsequent to the said decision; any discussion about the
question of limitation relating to such suits necessarily begins with
.a reference to the principles laid down by the Privy Council in
Vidya V aruthfs case. In that case, the Privy Council held that
the.endowments of a Hindu math are not "conveyed in trust", nor
is the head of the math a "trustee" with regard to them, save as to B
specific property proved to have been vested in him for a specific
·object. The question which the Privy Council had to consider in
that case was whether Art. 134 applied to a suit in which the
validity of a permanent lease of part of the math property granted
by the head of a math was challenged. Article 134 covers suits C
"brought with a view to recover possession of immovable property
·Conveyed or bequeathed in trust ·or mortgaged. and afterwards
transferred by the trustee or mortgagee for a valuable· consideration.
These words used in column 1 of Art. 134 necessarily raise
·the question ·as to whether the head of a math is a trustee within
their meaning; and Mr. Ju5tice Ameer Ali, who spoke for the D
1 Privy Council, answered that question in the negative. In consequence, the argument that Art. 134 applied, _was repelled, and
it was held that Art. 144 would govern such a case.
In fact, it is substantially because of this decision that Articles
134-A, 134-B and 134-C and Articles 48A and 48B came to be
inserted in the First Schedule to the Limitation Act by Amending
E
Act I of 1929. At the same time, s. 10 of the Limitation Act was
amended by addition of an explanatory clause which · provided,
· inter a/ia, that for the purposes of s. 10, any property comprised
in a Hindu religious or charitable endowment shall be deemed to
be property vested in trust for a specific purpose, and the manager
of any such property shall be deemed to be the· trustee thereof.
F
As we have already noticed, these newly added provisions in the .
Limitation Act came into force on the 1st January, _1929.
Reverting then to the question as to whether a transfer effected
by the manager of a temple in regard to properties belonging to the .
teniple falls outside the purview of Art. 134-B if it is shown to
have . been made on the basis that the transferor treated the properties as his own, it does appear that the two earlier Privy Council
-decisions in Gnanasambanda's(') and Damodar Das's(3 ) cases
lend some support to the contention. In Gnanasambanda's case,
it was held by the Privy C9uncil that where hereditary trustees of
a religious endownient sold their hereditary right of management
(I) L.R. 48 I.A. 302.
(2) L.R. 27 I.A. 69.
(3) L.R. 37 I.A. 147.
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SRINIVASA v. RAMASWAMY (Gajendragadkar, C./.)
127
A and transferred the endowed property, the sales were null and void,
in the absence of a custom allowing them; and that the possession
taken by the purchaser was adverse to the vendors and those
claiming under them. In appreciating the effect of this decision,
it is necessary to bear in mind that the plea of limitation with which
the Privy Council was concerned in that case was based on Art. 124
B of the Limitation Act. Article 124 relates to suits filed for possession of a hereditary office, and the limitation prescribed for such
suits starts when the defendant takes possession of the office
adversely to the plaintiff.
It is clear that in that case, what had
been sold was the hereditary office, as well as the properties belong-
<:
ing to the endowment; and so, it was plain that limitation began
as soon as the purchaser took possession of the office under Art.
124. It is true that immovable properties belonging to the temple
had also been sold; but the Privy Council expressly ruled that there
was no distinction between the office and the property of the
endowment.
The one is attached to the other; but if there is,
.D . Art. 144 of the same Schedule is applicable to the property; and
that bars the suit after 12 years' adverse possession. It may be
permissible to state that this latter observation was made in 1899
Jong before the Privy Council enunciated the true legal position in
regard to the status of the managers of Hindu religious endowments in Vidya V aruthi's case(').
E
Similarly in Damodar Das's case('), while dealing with the
validity of an 'ikramama' of a debuttar property executed by the
manager of the property, the Privy Council observed that from the
date of the ikramama, the possession of the transferee was adverse
to the right of the idol and that led to the conclusion that the suit
F instituted against the transferee was barred by limitation. There
is no discussion about the status and character of the Chela who
made the transfer nor about the right of the succeeding Chela to
challenge the validity of the transfer effected by his predecessor
which was subsequently recognised by the Privy Council in Vidya
Varuthi's case(').
G
B
These two judgments have, no doubt been incidentally referred
to by the Privy Council in Mahant Ram Charan Das v. Naurangi
Lal and Others('), and in Mahadeo Prasad Singh and Others v .
Karia Bharti,(') though the decision in the said two cases proceeded in the light of the legal position enunciated by the Privy
Council in Vidya Varuthi's case(').
(I} L.R. 48 I.A. 302.
(3} L.R. 60 I.A. 124.
•
(2} L.R. 37 I.A. 147.
(4) L.R. 62 I.A. 47 .
128
SUPllEMB COUJ.T llEPORTS
(1966) 3 S.C.R.
It would thus be seen that the observations made by Mr. Justice
Mukherjea on which Mr. Tatachari relies, really purport to extend
the principle which has apparently been mentioned by the Privy
Council in Gnanasambanda's case{'). It does appear that Mr.
Justice Mukherjea had expressed this view as a Judge of the
Calcutta High Coun in the case of Hemanta Kumari Bam v. Sree
Sree lshwar Sridhar Jiu,( 2 ) and had relied on the two Privy Council's decisions in Gnanasambanda's(') and Damodar Dais cases (1).
In the case of Hemanta Kumari Basu('), the attention of Mukherjea
B
J. was drawn to the fact that in an earlier decision of the Calcutta
High Coun in Ronald Duncan Cromartie and
Franci~ Arthur
Shephard Sutherland, v. Sri lswar Radha Damodar Jew and
C
Others,(') D. N. Mitter, J., had made observations which were
inconsistent with the view which Mukherjea, J. was dis~d to
take; but the learned Judge commented on the said observations by
saying that they were open to criticism.
Thus, on the question raised by Mr. Tatachari before us, there
D
does appear to be some divergence of opinion in the Calcutla High
Coun itself.
No other decision has been cited before us which
has accepted the proposition that if any part of the property belonging to a Hindu religious endowment is transferred by its manager,
the transfer is void and the possession of the transferee becomes
adverse to the endowment from the very beginning.
In fact, as
E
we have already indicated, in the case of Gnanasambanrla(' 'i what
had been transferred unauthorisedly, was the religious office itself
and all the properties appertaining thereto.
It is open to doubt
whether the said decision could lead to the inference that if a nart
of the property is transferred by the manager of a religious endowment on the basis that it belongs to him and not to the religious
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endowment, the transfer is void ab initio, with the result that the
possession of the transferee is adverse to the reli~ious endowment
from the very beginning, and the succeeding manager's right to
challenge the said transfer would be lost if his predecessor who
made the transfer lives for more than 12 years after effecting the
transfer.
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In the words of Sir John Edge, who spoke for the Privy
Council in Nainapi/lai Marakayar and Other< v. Ramanathan
Chettiar and Others(•), w in the case of a Shebait a grant by him
(I} LR. 27 I.A. 69.
(3) LR. 37 I.A. 147.
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(2) I.LR. (1946) II Cal. 38.
(4) (1935) 62 C.L.J. 10.
(5) LR. 51 I.A. 83 alp. 97 .
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SRINIVASA v. RAMASWAMY (Gajendragadkar, C.J.)
12~·
A in violation of his duty of an interest in endowed lands which he
has no authority as Shebait ·to make may possibly under some
circumstances be good as against himself by way of estoppel, but
is not binding upon his successors." It is not easy to see why the·
successor's right to challenge an unauthorised alienation made by
his predecessor should be affected adversely if the alienation is
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made by his predecessor on the basis that the property belonged to•
him and not to the religious endowment.
c
However, we do not think it necessary to decide this point in·
the present case, because, in our opinion, the .plain words of Art.
134-B do not permit such a plea to be raised.
Colul]):n 1 of Art.
134-B provides for suits brought, inter alia, by the manager of a
Hindu religious or charitable endowment to recover possession of
immovable property comprised in the endowment which has been
transferred by a previous manager for a valuable consideration.
The period prescribed for such suits is 12 years, and the time from
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which the period begins to run is the death, resignation or removal
of the transferor. Confining ourselves to the first column of Art.
134-B at this stage, the question which we have to decide is : does
this article permit any distinction to be made between transfers
effected by a previous manager on the basis that the property
transferred belongs to the religious endowment, and those made
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by him on the basis that the said property is his own private property ? If the property is transferred by the manager on the basis
that it belongs to the endowment, Art. 134-B clearly applies; but
does it make any difference to the application of Art. 134-B if
the transfer is made on the other basis that the property belongs
not to the endowment, but to the manager himself ? In either
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case, the successor who challenges the alienation, will have to
prove that the property in fact belongs to the religious endowment.
Once that is proved, is it necessary for him also to show that the
transfer was made on the basis that the property belonged to tb
religious endowment ? In our opinion, such a limitation cannot
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be read in the words used by the said article. Article 134-B applies
to all cases where it is shown that the immovable property was
comprised in the endowment and that it has been transferred by
a previous manager for a valuable consideration. The successor
has to prove three facts : ( 1) that the property belongs to the
religious endowment; (2) that it was transferred by a previous
manager; and (3) that the transfer was for a valuable consideration.
H
The character of the rep1 esentations made by the previous manager
in regard to his relation with the property which is the subjectmatter of transfer, is irrelevant for the purpose of Art. 134-B.
130
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[1966) 3 S.C.R.
All transfers made would fall within Art. 134-B if the three essential facts are proved by the successor of the transferor manager
of the Hindu religious endowment. Therefore, we do not think that
Mr. Tatachari is justified in contending that the transfers with
which we are concerned in the present appeal fall outside the
purview of Art. 134-B inasmuch as they are effected by the alienors
on the representations that the properties transferred belonged to
them as their separate properties. On the findings recorded by tho
High Court, it is clear that the properties belonged to the temple;
that they have been transferred by persons who must be deemed to
be the previous managers of the temple; and that they have been
transferred for valuable consideration. The present suit has been
brought against respondents I to 3 who are appointed trustees of
the temple by respondent No. 4; and so, all the ingredients prescribed by the first column of Art. 134-B are satisfied.
That is why
we must reject the ingenious argument urged before us by Mr.
Tatachari that Art. 134-B does not apply to the present case.
We may, in this connection, refer to the decision of the Privy
Council in Mahant Sudarsan Das v. Mahant Ram Kirpal Das and
Others. (1 )
In that case, the question which arose for the decision
of the Privy Council was whether Art. 134-B applied to a case
where debuttar property had been sold in an execution sale, and the
Privy Council held that it did not. "To aoply Art. 134-B to an
execution sale", observed Lord Radcliffe, "involves a reading of
that article which would construe the words "transferred by a previous manager for a valuable consideration" as covering an
execution sale under court process, and the word "transferor" as
extending to the judgment-debtor whose land is sold. It is not only
that t!te words themselves do not properly bear that meaning.
Apart from that, what is in all essentials the same question was
considered on several occasions by courts in India before Art. 134A
imd I 34B had been added to Art. 134.
That Article contains the
analogous phrase "transferred by the trustee or mortgagee for a
valuable consideration", and there was a uniform current of decision to the effect that these words were incapable of app]vin~ to
an execution sale." What was said by the Privy Council about
the impropriety of including an execution sale within the meaning
of Art. 134B can, with equal justification, be said about introducing
words of limitation in the said article which alone can exclude
transfers made by the previous manager of the Hindu religious
~ndowment on the basis that the property transferred belonged to
(ll L.R. 77 I.A. 42 at pp. 49-SO.
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SRINIVASA v. RAMA5WAMY' (Gajendragadkar, CJ.)
131
A him.
Therefore, we must deal with the present appeal on the basis
that Art. 134-B applies to the facts of the present case.
Mr. Tatachari then contends that even on the application of
Art. 134-B, the decision of the High Coun is erroneous, because
on the facts proved in this case, the High Court should have drawn
the legal inference that the transferor had been removed more than
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12 years before the suit was filed.
He contends that the question
as to whether on facts proved in the present case, an inference can
be drawn that· the previous manager or trustee had been removed,
is a mixed question of fact and law, and the High Court was in
error in reversing the decisions of the courts below by holding that
the title of the temple had not been lost by adverse possession before
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the suit was filed.
For deciding this question, it is necessary to
refer to some material facts.
The transferor is Pachaikandaswamiar. The appellants' case
before the trial Court was that Pachaikandaswamiar had resigned
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his position about 27 years ago, and that even if Art. 134-B applied,
limitation should be held to have commenced from the date when
the alienor either resigned his office or was removed from it. In
dealing with this aspect of the matter, the learned trial Judge has
examined the oral evidence led on behalf of the parties.
He
assumed that Pachaikandaswamiar and his son were alive at the
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date of the suit.
Even so, he found that they had left the village
and had taken no part whatever in the management of the worship
of the temple.
In fact, almost all the properties belonging to the
temple had in course of time, been alienated and the alienors were
no longer interested either in the temple or in staying in the village
itself. Raju Iyer, who was examined as a witness by the appellants,
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stated that he and Amirthalinga Iyer had been performing the
worship of the temple for the past 27 years, and he added that the
alienor and his son had left the village more than 25 years ago,
and but for very casual visits to the village, they had never taken
any interest in the temnle or in the management of its affairs.
In
fact, Ranga Raju Raddiar, whom the resnondents
examined,
<; admitted in reply to the questions put by the Court that since 25
years or so neither Pachaikandaswamiar nor Chinnaswami Iyer had
performed any pooja in the temple.
He substantially corroborated
the statement of Raju Iyer that Raju Iyer and Amirthalinga Iyer
had been performing the worship of the temple.
Another witness,
Chandrasekara Iyer by name, whom the respondents examined,
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also admitted that Pachaikanda had sold away all his properties and
had left the village. Besides, when respondents 1 to 3 were
appointed as trustees of the temple, a notice was issued by the
132
SUPllBll1! comT l.l!PO.TS
(1966J 3 S.C.ll.
office of Assistant Commissioner for Hindu Religious Endowments,
Tiruchirappalli, on the 19th June, 1948, in which it was specifically
averred that there were no legally constituted trustees for Sri
Pachaikantha Udayavar Temple, Eragudi, and it
was mismanaged; and so, it was proposed to appoint legally constituted
trustees for the said temple.
This notice was served on witness
Raju Iyer and Amrithalinga Iyer, Chinnasamy Iyer, and Rangaraja
Reddiar, who were performing the worship and acting as de facto
managers of the temple.
It is remarkable that this notice describes
Amirthalinga Iyer and Chinnasamy Iyer as de facto trustees of the
temple.
It is on these facts that the learned trial Judge held that the
alienor must be deemed to have resigned his office or left it.
The
lower appellate Court does not appear to have considered or made
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any specific or clear finding on this aspect of the matter.
It, however, held that the transferor and his family had been claiming
beneficial interest in the properties all along and that they were
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not holding the same as managers of the trust. That is why he
confirmed the finding of the trial Judge on the question of adverse
possession, though on a somewhat different ground.
The High Court has relied on the fact that the alienor is still
E
alive, and so, it thought that the plea of adverse possession could
not be sustained.
Unfortunately, the question as to whether the
facts proved in this case did not show that the alienor had been
removed from office by other persons who were in management of
the temple de facto, has not been discussed by the High Court. In
our opinion, all the facts which have been brought on the record
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in relation to this aspect of the matter, clearly show not only that
the alienor disposed of all the property and left the village, but
also that for the last 25 years or so, the management has been
taken over by other persons who are acting as de facto managers
of the temple.
This evidence appears to us to show that the
alienors had been removed from management of the temple, and
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other persons have taken up the position as de facto managers: and
this position has lasted for more than 25 years. If that be so,
there is no escape from the conclusion that more than 12 years
have elapsed since the date of the removal of the previous manager
who transferred the pronerties in question: and so, if a suit were
brought by respondents I to 3 on the date when they were apoointed
H
trustees by respondent No. 4, it would be barred under Art. 134-B.
On that view of the matter, we must hold that the trial Judge and
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SRINIVASA v. RAMASWAMY (Gaiendragadkar, CJ.)
133
A the lower appellate Court were right in decreeing the appellants'
suit in its entirety.
We must accordingly set aside the decree
passed by the High Court in regard to the transfers covered by
Exts. A-3, A-6 and A-12, and restore that of the lower appellate
Court. In the circumstances of t]jis case, we direct that parties
should bear their own costs.
B
Appeal allowed •
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