JUDGMENT

NATARAJAN, J.:— This appeal by certificate is directed against a judgment of the High Court of Gujarat reversing the judgment of the Assistant Judge, Baroda and restoring the finding of the Charity Commissioner that a property known as Laxman Maharaj Math is a public trust and not the private property of the appellant herein. The property is also alternatively referred to as Ramji Mandir. It consists of two items viz. the main property known as Laxman Maharaj Math and its adjunct known as Nagarkhana on the other side of the road. As the Charity Commissioner has held that both the items form part and parcel of the Math and constitute a single unit we will refer to both the items under the common name of Laxman Maharaj Math.

2. One Haribhat Maharaj is the propositus of the appellant and his brothers. As per the genealogy table furnished by the appellant, he and his brothers are the descendents of Haribhat Maharaj in the fifth generation.

(See table below)

3. In the year 1835 A.D. (S.Y. 1891) Haribhat Maharaj built a Samadhi for his maternal uncle Laxman Maharaj, who was a brahmchari and an ascetic. In front of the Samadhi he also built a Mandir with the idols of Ram, Laxman and