BHAGWATI, J. :- This Reference raises two questions relating to the assessment of the assessee who is the Acharya, that is, spiritual preceptor of one of the two dioceses of the religious denomination known as Swaminarayan Sampradaya. In order to be able to arrive at a proper determination of these questions, it is necessary to go a little into the history of this Sampradaya culminating in the framing of the Scheme by the High Court in Appeal No. 430 of 1927. The entire history is set out in the judgment of the High Court in that appeal and that judgment having been referred to and relied upon in the order of the Tribunal, a copy of it has been taken on record by us by consent of parties. The whole of the history is however not material and we will, therefore, state only so much of it as is necessary for the purpose of the present Reference.

2. This Sampradaya which has a large number of adherents in this part of the country was founded by a great Hindu religious reformer named Sahajanand Swami who came to Gujarat in the early part of the nineteenth century. Himself of a life of religious austerity, he fiercely denounced the licence and immorality prevalent among the priesthood at the time and in the scheme of doctrine which he eventually promulgated, while recognizing to the full the impossibility of salvation without faith, he emphasized the no less essential condition of purity and righteousness. Attracted by the magnetism of his personality, the purity of his life, and the inherent force of his teaching, a numerous following soon gathered around him. With the assistance of the moneys given by his followers and also a permanent religious tax called Dharmada Vero which he imposed on his followers, he built during his lifetime several temples, the two principal ones being, one at Ahmedabad and the other at Vadtal. Both these temples were dedicated to Krishna, the temple at Ahmedabad being called Narnarayan temple and that at Vadtal, Laxminarayan temple. In 1827, three years before his death, he withdrew himself from the management of the affairs of the Sampradaya he founded and by a document called Deshvibhag Lekh or deed for the apportionment of the territory, he divided the whole of India into two dioceses subordinating each diocese to one of these temples and over each of the two dioceses, he appointed one of his nephews as Acharya, that is, spiritual preceptor. We are concerned in this reference only with the northern diocese of Ahmedabad having the temple of Narnarayan as its centre since the assessee is the Acharya of that diocese. The properties appertaining to the temple of Narnarayan belonging to the Ahmedabad diocese wore considerable and there were also a large number of other temples subordinate to the main temple. In addition to the income derived from the properties and the Dharmada Vero, there were two other sources of income, namely, Nam Vero, that is, salutation tax which represented a sort of voluntary contribution made by the followers to the Acharya and Bhets, that is, presents given by the followers to the Acharya. Now in connection with the properties of this diocese, a suit being Suit No. 22 of 1902 was filed in the District Court of Ahmedabad and in that suit the question whether the properties were the private properties of the Acharya or were properties held in trust for public purposes of a charitable or religious nature was canvassed. The suit was decided by Mr. Knight, who was the District Judge, and on appeal being taken to the High Court, the judgment of Mr. Knight was confirmed with some slight modifications. The result was that all the properties were held to be properties belonging to a public religious trust, barring Nam Vero and Bhets which were declared to be the personal income of the Acharya intended for his personal maintenance and benefit and not for the support of the institution. It was also held that the Acharya had an unfettered power of disposal over the surplus income of