Such trust is a public trust.

Prabha Sridevan, J.

1. A person walking along the streets of what is now known as Chennai-1, will see many buildings on which stone slabs have been embedded and inscribed with the word "—— Chetty Charities denoting an endowment created by the "Arya Vysyai Community". This Community is well known for its benevolence and piety. The intent and purpose behind these endowments is to secure to the founder spiritual benefits by the performance of charitable acts as Justice R.Sengottuvelan in his commentaries on the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act, 1959 notes

" In the Hindu system there is no line of demorcation between religion and charity . On the other hand charity is regarded as part of religion. This is because the Hindu Religion recongnises the existence of life after death and it believes in the law of Karma according to which good or bad deeds of a man produce corresponding results in the life to come. Therefore, all Hindu Sages concur in holding that charitable gifts are pious acts par excellence which bring appropriate rewards to the donor."

2. TheCheetalla Venkatachalam Chetty Charities, hereinafter referred to as the charities is one such endowment, founded by Cheetalla Venkatachalam Chetty in the year 1882. He had set apart his house bearing old No.171, New No.61, Govindappa Naicken St, George Town, for the performance of Thathiarathanal service in "Perumal Temples" at Madras, from which food had to be distributed to the "Desanthiris" in the temples. A slab inscription dated 29. 1882 was also embedded on the wall of this property to denote the creation of this endowment. Sometime in the year 1969, the Deputy Commissioner, Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments, Madras initiated proceedings under Section 64(1) of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act, 1959, (hereinafter referred to as the Act) to frame a scheme in respect of the charities on account of the mismanagement by the then trustee. The grandson of the founder one C.Ragavalu styling himself as a de facto-trustee also filed an application under Section 63(1) of the Act for a declaration that this endowment was a private trust. Both these matters were heard together by the Deputy Commissioner and while dropping the proceedings under Section 64(1) viz., O.A. No. 19 of 1969, he dismissed the application under section 63(a)of the Act holding that the suit trust is s a religious charity. Against this , the aforesaid Sri. Ragavalu Chetty filed an appeal under Section 69(1) of the Act to the Commissioner, HR & CE. This appeal was also dismissed by the Commissioner holding that the property is a specific endowment under the Act. Aggrieved by this, the said Ragavalu Chetty, grandson of the founder of the charities filed the statutory suit under Section 70(1) of the Act before the City Civil Court at Madras viz., O.S. No. 2114 of 1981. According to him, the trust was purely private. There was no specific direction by the founder to perform the charity in any particular religious institution and further there was no absolute dedication of the property for the performance of any "Kattalai" to make the charity, a specific endowment and therefore, he prayed that the order of the Commissioner, HR & CE, be set aside.

3. The Commissioner, HR & CE who was arrayed as the first defendant stated that the statutory authorities had correctly found that there was an absolute dedication by the founder and the clandestine removal of the stone inscription also proved that there was an attempt made by the present defacto-trustee to remove the property from the purview of the HR & CE Department. Therefore, the defendant prayed, that the suit should be dismissed.

4. Beforethe learned Trial Judge all the relevant documents produced before the Commissioner were marked and the plaintiff viz., the grandson of the founder viz., the said C.Ragavalu Chetty alone was examined as a witness. Ex.A1 marked before the learned Trial Judge is a registere