In Civil Appeal No.
In Civil Appeal No.
248/55 .
One of them, namely, Civil Appeal No.
225, 226, 228, 229 and 248 of 1955.
Appeals from the judgments and orders dated October 5, 1953, in Misc.
He also received a numberice from the President, Bihar State Board of Religious Trusts, to furnish statements and accounts, and he challenged the vires of the Act on similar grounds.
Civil, APPELLATE JURISDICTION Civil Appeals Nos.
In Civil Appeal No.
229 of 1955 the appellant Mahant Mahabir Das stated that he was the Mahant of a asthal known as Bisanpur Asthal situate in the self same district.
In Civil Appeal No.
226 of 1955 the appellant Mahant Ram Das similarly alleged that he was the mahant of a math or asthal situate in village Bhuthari in the same district of Monghyr, that he was a bairagi sadhu and follower of Ramanandi Laskari Sri Vaishnava Sampradaya, that he was the absolute owner of the properties belonging to the math and that the President, Bihar State Board of Religious Trusts, had numberauthority to issue a numberice to him asking him to furnish statements and accounts of the properties in his possession.
225 of 1955 the appellant is Mahant Moti Das, and he alleged that he was the Mahant of a math or astral situate in village Parbatta, district Monghyr, in Bihar, that he was a follower of the religion founded by Sri Kabir Sahib, that the properties of the asthal were treated as private properties of the mahants and that the President of the Bihar State Board of Religious Trusts companystituted under the Act had numberauthority to serve him with a numberice under s. 59 of the Act, inasmuch as the Act was ultra vires and unconstitutional and, in any event, did number apply to his math or asthal.
132 of the Constitution to the effect that the cases involved substantial ques tions of law as to the interpretation of the Constitution and the appeals have been brought to this Court in pursuance of those certificates.
In Civil Appeal No.
Judicial Cases Nos.
Judicial Cases Nos.
418/52 and 124/53 and October 8, 1953.,
228 of 1955 the appellants made similar allegations in their plaint and challenged the vires of the Act, mentioning as their cause of action the date on which the assent of the President of India to the Act was first published in the Bihar Gazette.
188/53 and 235/53 of the Patna High Court.
106/53, Misc.
The petitioners and the plaintiff ,, appellants before us, applied for and obtained certificates from the High Court under Art.
Patnaik, for the appellant in C. A. No.
225, 226, 228 229/55 .
Mahabir Prasad, Advocate General for the State of Bihar and P. Varma, for the respondent in C. A. No.
226 and 227 of the Constitution.
C.Prasad, for the appellants in C. As.
Mahabir Prasad, Advocate General for the State of Bihar, Tribeni Prdsad Sinha and S. P. Varma, for the respondents in C. As.
248 of 1955 Mahant Ram Krishna Das alleged that the temple in question, known as Bhikam as Thakurbari in the town of Patba, was companystructed by one Benidasji with his own money and he installed certain deities therein.
225/55 .
April 15.
228 of 1955, arises out of a suit which was originally instituted in the Court of the Subordinate Judge of Patna but was later transferred to the High Court by an order made by it tinder Art.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by K. DAS, J. This is a batch of five appeals which have been heard together and the principal question for decision in these appeals is the companystitutional validity of the Bihar Hindu Religious Trusts Act,, 1950 Bihar I of 1951 , hereinafter referred to as the Act.
226, 228, 229 248/55 .
The petitions and the suit were companytested by the State of Bihar and or the President, Bihar State Board of Religious ,trusts, who are number respondents before us.
Four of these appeals arise out of writ proceedings taken in the High Court of Patna on petitions made under Arts.
The Petitioners in the writ petitions and the plaintiffs in the suit challenged the companystitutional validity of the Act on certain grounds to which we shall presently refer.
228 of the Constitution.
The facts lie within a very narrow companypass.
