Judgment

B. K. Mukherjea, J.

These two connected appeals are directed against a common judgment of a Division Bench of the Bombay High Court dated 12-9-1952, by which the learned Judges dismissed two petitions under Art. 226 of the Constitution presented respectively by the appellants in the two appeals.

2. The petitioners in both the cases assailed the constitutional validity of the Act known as the Bombay Public Trusts Act, 1950 (Act 29 of 1950) which was passed by the Bombay Legislature with a view to regulate and make better provisions for the administration of the public and religious trusts in the state of Bombay. By a notification dated 30-1-1951 the Act was brought into force on and from 1-3-1951 and its provisions were made applicable to temples, maths and all other trusts, express or constructive, for either a public, religious or charitable purpose or both. The State of Bombay figures as the first respondent in both the appeals and the second respondent is the Charity Commissioner, appointed by the first respondent under S. 3 of the impugned Act to carry out the provisions of the Act throughout the State of Bombay. In one of the appeals, namely, Appeal No. 1 of 1954, the Assistant Charity Commissioner for the region of Baroda has been impleaded as the third respondent.

3. The appellant in Appeal No. 1 of 1954 is a Swetamber Murtipujak Jain and a resident of Vejalpur in the district of Punchmahals within the State of Bombay. He is a vahivatdar or manager of a Jain public temple or Derasar situated in the same village and the endowed properties appertainbing to the temple are said to be of the value of Rs. 5 lakhs. The petition, out of which this appeal arises, was filed by the appellant on 29-5-1952 before the High Court of Bombay, in its Appellate Side, against the three respondents mentioned above, praying for the issue of a writ in the nature of mandamus or direction ordering and directing the respondents to forbear from enforcing or taking any steps for the enforcement of the Bombay Public Trusts Act, 1950 or of any of its provisions and particularly the provision relating to registration of public and religious trusts managed by the appellant and payment of contributions levied in respect of the same.

The grounds urged in support of the petition were that a number of provisions of the Act conflicted with the fundamental rights of the petitioner guaranteed under Arts. 25 and 26 of the Constitution and that the contribution levied on the trust was a tax which it was beyond the competence of the State Legislature to impose.

4. A similar application under Art. 226 of the Constitution and praying for almost the identical relief was filed by the appellants in the other appeal, namely, Appeal No. 7 of 1954 before the High Court in its Original Side on 4-8-1952. The petitioners in this case purport to be the present trustees of the Parsi Punchayat Funds and Properties in Bombay registered under the Parsi Public Trusts Registration Act of 1936. These properties constitute one consolidated fund and they are administered by the trustees for the benefit of the entire Parsi community and the income is spent for specified religious and charitable purpose of a public character as indicated by the various donors.

The petitioners challenged the validity of the Bombay Public Trusts Act, 1950 substantially on the grounds that they interfered with the freedom of conscience of the petitioners and with their right freely to profess, practise and propogate religion and also with their right to manage their own affairs inmatters of religion and thereby contravened the provisions of Arts. 25 and 26 of the Constitution. The levy of contribution under S. 58 of the Act was also alleged in substance and effect to be a tax on public, religious and charitable trusts, a legislation upon which it was beyond the competency of the State Legislature to enact.

5. As practically the same questions were involved in both the petitions, the learned Chief Ju