The
Bihar State Board of Religious Trusts & Anr Vs. Vishwamath Prasad Lohia
& Ors [2007] Insc 929 (14 September 2007)
S.B.
Sinha & Harjit Singh Bedi
CIVIL
APPEAL NO. 5880/2000 WITH CIVIL APPEAL No. 5879/2000
HARJIT SINGH BEDI,J.
1.
This appeal has been preferred by the Bihar State Board of Religious Trusts
etc. impugning the judgment of the Division Bench of the Patna High Court dated
27.9.1991 quashing the Notification dated 5.8.1989 issued under sub- section
(2) of Section 29 of the Bihar State Board Religious Trust Act, 1950
(hereinafter called the "Act") whereby the committee said to have
been constituted on the basis of the trust deed dated 26.9.1983.
2. It
has been argued by the learned counsel for the appellants herein that the
requisite notice under sub-section (2) of Section 29 of the Act had been issued
to the committee prior to its supersession and as such the impugned judgment
holding to the contrary was not correct. We however find that the notice given
to the committee proposing supersession is a composite one under section 29(2)
and section 32 of the Act.
The
High Court has found that the said Notification (Annexure-3) dated 5th August
1989 was not in accordance with the provisions or in terms of section 29 of the
Act and did not also meet the parameters of the scheme which have been
formulated later under section 32. It had also come during the course of the
hearing before the High Court that Civil Suit No. 207/1986 seeking a
declaration, inter-alia, that the trust deed dated 26th September 1983 was a
void document as well as several other issues was pending trial. The Division
Bench opined that as the matter was sub-judice before the Civil Court it would
not be necessary or appropriate to go into the questions raised before the
Civil Court but in so far as the aforesaid Notification was concerned it having
been issued under section 29(2) of the Act without giving a proper hearing to
the committee and the scheme under section 32 of the Act being not in
accordance with law was liable to be quashed. It is in this situation, the
present appeals have been filed by the Board.
3. We
have heard the learned counsel for the parties and gone through the record and
in particular the notices allegedly given to the committee before its supersession
as also the scheme framed under section 32 of the Act. We note the finding of
the High Court that there was no evidence to show that the notices had been
served under section 29(2) cannot be seriously challenged. We also find that
Civil Suit with regard to the validity of the trust is pending in the Civil Court. We accordingly dismiss the appeals
but while doing so direct that the status quo as exists today will continue
till the disposal of the appeals. We also direct that a fresh show cause notice
under section 29(2) will be given to the committee and both parties will be at
liberty to produce their documents before the Board within four months from the
date of the service of the notice and that status-quo as exists today will
continue to operate till the final disposal of the matter by the Board in
proceedings under section 29(2) of the Act.
4. The
appeal is disposed of accordingly
5.
Civil Appeal No. 5879/2000 is disposed of in terms of the judgment in Civil
Appeal No.5880/2000.
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