1. This is an appeal by the defendant Bihar State Board of Religious Trust (for short the Board) against the judgment of the Subordinate Judge, Samastipur, dated the 10th July, 1973 reversing the decision of the court of first instance. The suit was for a declaration that the temple of Sri Ram Laxman and Jankiji with the properties dedicated to it under deed of Samarpannama dated the 28th November, 1916 (Ext. 4) was a private trust and not a public one, and also for permanent injunction restraining the Board from interfering with the administration of the trust property by the plaintiff. The temple is located in village Harpur-Purandar alias Keota within Dalsinghsarai police station in the District of Samastipur. The dispute occurred when the Board tried to enforce the provisions of the Bihar Hindu Religious Trust Act 1 of 1951 (briefly the Act) by serving a notice upon the plaintiff-respondent to submit return and continued to interfere even thereafter.

2. The case of the plaintiff was that his father Chhatradhari Choudhary who was a great devotee of the aforesaid deities had a desire to construct a temple for installing the above named deities and to endow some properties