New Delhi, Oct 16 The Supreme Court on Friday held that a state government cannot legally become the recipient of a gift of temple property from a temporary trustee.
A bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Alok Aradhe said the State, as custodian, cannot unilaterally usurp, nor permit any of its officers to usurp, the property of the religious/ charitable institutions it is charged to protect.
The top court’s judgment came on a plea related to ownership of land belonging to Nagapalayam Mariamman-Ponnachiamman Temple in Tamil Nadu.
In this case, a land measuring one acre and ten cents in Survey Nos. 36/4, 36/5 and 41/2 of Kodumudi Village, Erode District, Tamil Nadu, belonged to Nagapalayam Mariamman-Ponnachiamman Temple and was administered by the temple trust.
On August 30, 2017, the tehsildar issued a certificate stating that one S Bhoopathy (temporary trustee of the temple) has given the temple land to the government.
By a gift deed of the same date, the temporary trustee gifted the subject land to the Tamil Nadu government, represented by the district collector and the tehsildar, and it was accepted by the tehsildar for construction of a taluk office on the subject land.
The gift deed was initially challenged by one M Periyasamy and three others contending that the alienation of trust property by way of gift violated Section 34 of the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act, 1959 and was, therefore, void and illegal.
The top court in its judgment said the State was under a statutory obligation to act as custodian of the subject land.
“However, the State not only accepted the gift of temple property but also continued to defend it before the High Court and before this Court, until the Chief Secretary of Endowments was called upon to place his stand on affidavit. Therefore, we deem it appropriate to direct the State to pay costs quantified at Rs 1,00,000 within eight weeks to the Temple,” the bench said.
The top court said the country’s religious institutions are repositories of considerable wealth, land, buildings and jewellery accumulated over centuries through the offerings of ordinary devotees and the endowments of kings and commoners alike.
“That wealth, once given, ceases to belong to the donor, to the priest, to the trustee, or to the State; it vests in the deity, and every hand through which it subsequently passes holds it only in trust for the deity and, through the deity, for the community of worshippers it was meant to serve. Every custodian holds it only in trust for the deity and the worshippers it serves,” the bench said.
The top court declared that the gift deed executed in favour of the Tamil Nadu government is null and void under Section 41(1) of the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act, 1959, and its registration is of no legal effect.
“The lease in favour of the government shall not be annulled. If the lease has expired, it shall be renewed. In either event, the lease rent shall stand enhanced to Rs 31,000 per month with effect from March 8, 2019, the date on which the subject land was handed over for construction.
“The rent shall be re-fixed once in three years under Section 34-A of the 1959 Act, but not below that amount. The period of the lease, its renewal and the remaining terms shall be determined by the trust of the Temple, in accordance with the 1959 Act, with the benefit of the Temple as the paramount consideration,” the bench said.
(PTI News)
