Andhra Pradesh High Court
Judges : P.RAMACHANDRA RAJU
Rajasekharan - Appellant
Versus
Paramartha Bhushanam Nathella Sampathu Chetty, Chgrities, Nathella Narayana Gupta - Respondent
C.R.P. No. 4427/82
Decided On : 07-01-83
Advocates Appeared :
Mr. G. Suryanarayana Murthy, Mr. S.V. Sunderrarajan
HELD : In this case, the objects of the trust leave no doubt that the beneficiaries are not exclusively persons belonging to the Hindu Community or a class thereof. Having regard to the objects of the trust, there is nothing to indicate that it was exclusively Hindu in character. The mere circumstance that one of the objects of the trust was also to feed Brahmins during Brahmotsavam time at Tirupati Piligrim Centre does not necessarily make the charitable endowment exclusively Hindu in character.
Under the Andhra Pradesh Chartiable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments Act. Charitable purpose is defined as including the relief of poverty of distress; education, medical relief; advancement of any other object or utility or welfare to the general public or a section thereof, not being an object of an exclusively religious nature. The endowment in question falls under the definition of the Charitable endowment as made in the Andhra Pradesh Act, 17 of 1966, under which the Hindu Character becomes relevant only in the case of religious institutions and not in the case of a charitable endowments. By the date the Government notification was issued, it was only the Madras Act, 1951 that was in force even in the areas which now from part of Andhra Pradesh. The same notification must be held to govern in respect of Charitable endowments failing under the definition of the Andhra Pradesh Act 17 of 1967. If the notification is so construed, the Rent Controller will have no jurisdiction as under the notification building belonging to a charitable endowment are excluded from the purview of the Rent Control Act.
C.R.Ps. Allowed.
( 1 ) THESE various revisions filed by the individual tenants under Section 22 of the Andhra Pradesh Buildings (Lease, Rent and Eviction) Control, 1960 arise on the following meterial facts.
( 2 ) THE property in question, which is situated in Tirupathi originally belonged to the family of one Nathella sampathu Chetty, a philanthropist of madras. The building consisted of a ground floor consisting of two portions and a first floor which was consisting of about twelve rooms. The two par- tions in the ground floor as also the individual rooms in the first floor were let out, some to students and some to employees on varying rates of monthly rent. Nathella Sampathu Chetty, by a will executed by him before his death, donated the house property at Tirupathi for charities to be run under the name of messers. Paramarth Bhasha- nam Nathella Sampathu Chetty charities". Neither the will nor a copy thereof have been produced despite repeated and adequate opportunities given. It is, however common ground that the object of the trust is to render financial aid to poor people for marriage purposes, to feel Brahmins during Brahmostavam time at Tirupathi pilgrim Centre and to render financial aid for educational purposes. Members belonging to the family of Nathella sampathu Chetty were constituted trustees. In the year 1978, the trustees decided to convert the building into a big building to be stayed as "ramanujakutam" With a viert to "- vert the said building into a big choultry so as to accommodale and serve the needs of the public for the purpose of marriage, Upanayanams and other charitable purposes, certain major repairs, alterations and additions required to be made both on the ground floor and the first floor, The proposal was also to demolish the rooms in the first floor and construct a big hall. With that purpose in view, the petitioner-trustee required its tenants in occupation of different portions of the building to vacate the same. Some of them vacated, but nine such tenants, who were occupying different rooms in the first floor of the building, did not vacate the rooms in their respective possession. The petitioner charities thereupon filed eviction petitions in R C C Nos. 15 to 19 and 23 and 24/79 which came to be disposed of by a common juegment by the Principal Rent Controller Tirupati. Before the Principal Rent Controller, the tenants raised an objection regarding the jurisdiction of the Rent controller and relied for that purpose on a notification issued by the Government of Andhra Pradesh in G 0 Ms No 622 dated 4-5-1960 under section 26 of the Rent Control Act. By that notification, the Government, in exercise of powers conferred on it under section 26 of the Act, exempted from the operation of the provisions of the said Act all the buildings belonging to religious and charitable institutions in the state governed by and under the Provisions of either the madras Hindu Religious and Charitable endowments Act, 1951 or the Endowment Regulation, 1351 Fasli. The Rent controller held the charity to be a private trust and did not, therefore, come under the sweep of the aforesaid notification. He found the building to have been constructed prior to 1957 and therefore, he has jurisdiction to entertain the applications for eviction. Eviction was sought on three substantial grounds, viz. , that the charity bona fide required the premises for its own occupation, the building was in need of repairs and required to be altered ; the tenant in each individual case has sub-let the portion in his occupation. The allegation of sub-letting has been found to have not been made out and that plea no longer survives for consideration in these revisions. Though the Rent Controller ordered eviction also on the ground that the charity required the building for necessary repairs and alterations, it is now common ground that in the absence of an undertaking on its part to restore the portions so reconstructed to the individua
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