Judgment

DAS GUPTA, J. : There exists at Raipur in Madhya Pradesh an old Math by the name of Dudhadhari Math within which is a temple where the idols of Shri Ramchandra, Sita, Laxman, Bharat, Satrughan and Hanumanji have been worshipped for very many years. For the expenses of the worship of the deities and for the upkeep of the temple, one village by the name of Hirmi was dedicated by Dinanath Sao, a wealthy inhabitant of the locality. The main controversy in the present litigation is whether another village of the name of Telibandha which also belonged to Dinanath was dedicated absolutely to the temple either by Dinanath Sao himself or later on by his descendants.

2. The two appellants, both descendants of Dinanath Sao brought the present suit under S. 92 of the Code of Civil Procedure. 1908 for removal of the respondent Kamal Narayan, another descendant of Dinanath Sao, from the office of trustee of the God Shri Ramchandraji Swami for the village of Telibandha and for accounts. The appellant s case in the plaint was that Telibandha was dedicated to the temple of Shri Ramchandraji as early as 1857 by Dinanath Sao himself and later on in the year 1896 when a partition took place between his descendants who were uptill that time living jointly, all the cosharers not only re-affirmed the dedication made by Dinanath Sao of this village of Telibandha but themselves dedicated the village Telibandha to the deities in this temple by accepting the award made by the Panchas.

3. Dinanath died in 1862, leaving his two sons Sobharam and Keshoram. Sobha Ram had three sons, Sarjoo Prasad, Gokul Prasad and Jamna Prasad; Keshorarn had also three sons, Ramdin, Gajanand and Nand Kishore. At the time of the partition in 1896 Sarjoo Prasad was dead and the parties to the partition were Sarjoo Prasad s four sons, Ram Saran Lal, Ramhirde, Ram Krishna and Ramanuj, representing Sarjoo Prasad s Branch and the other five grandsons of Dinanath. The first appellant Ram Kishore is the son of Nand Kishore Sao, while the second appellant, Ramanuj, is Sarjoo Prasad s son. The respondent is the son of Ram Saran Lal.

4. By the award of 1896, it is the plaintiffs case, Ram Saran Lal was not given any proprietary interest in the village Telibandha but was merely made the Manager on behalf of the deities for this property on Ram Saran Lal s death in 1930, Kamal Narayan, his son, became the trustee. According to the plaintiffs, the temple was a public temple and the trust a public trust. The plaintiffs allege that Kamal Narayan committed several breaches of trust by the sale of certain lands of Mouza Telibandha for the sum of Rs. 1,06,774/l/- and in other ways. The plaintiffs first approached the Court of the Additional District Judge, Raipur with a petition under S. 3 of the Charitable and Religious Trusts Act for directions on Kamal Narayan as provided in that section. Directions were accordingly issued by the Additional District Judge; but with this the respondent did not comply. It was then that the present suit was brought by the plaintiffs without the previous consent of the Advocate-General as is permitted by S. 6 of the Charitable and Religious Trusts Act. The plaintiffs have prayed for a declaration that Telibandha village was held by the defendant in trust for Shri Ramchandra of the Dudhadhari Math and that he had committed breaches of such trust, for his removal from the position of a trustee and for appointment of the first plaintiff in his place; for an order on him to render accounts since 1936 and to deposit Rs. 1,06,774/1/- which he got as sale proceeds.

5. The defendant denied that Telibandha was ever dedicated. As regards the Award of 1896 his plea was that it did not express accurately the decision of the Arbitrators and that, in any case, it was superseded by the Award of Mr. Bagchi on May 14,1898, which was accepted by all the co-sharers as the actual settlement of their own and on the basis of which a suit brought to challenge the validity of t