The main legal point established in the judgment is the application of the Evidence Act and company law provisions to determine ownership of shares and the company's obligations regarding their transfer.

1. The main argument advanced in support of this appeal is that the application made by Mahant Bagavan Dosjee for shares in the Coimbatore Spinning and Weaving Co., was made by him in his capacity as Mahant of the Mutt at Tirupati, that the money paid by him for these shares was a portion of the funds of the Mutt, that the Mahant being a Byragi had not and could not have had any funds of his own out of which he could have purchased these shares, that the Directors of the Company must have been well aware that such was the case and that consequently, on Bagavan Dosjee vacating the post of Mahant, the Company was bound to transfer the shares standing in his name to the name of the plaintiff, his successor in the office of Mahant. The evidence on the record does not bear out these contentions. It cannot be held that Exhibit XXIII shows that Bagavan Dosjee applied for the shares in his capacity of Mahant on behalf of the Mutt. The applicant there applies for certain shares, states that he has paid Messrs. Arbuthnot & Co. a deposit on account of such shares, asks that the shares may be allotted to him, agrees to accept them and requests that his name may be entered on the register of shareholders. He signs his name as Sreeman Bagavant Dosjee and gives as his address "Mahant of Atlieenam Bavajae Mutt, Tirapati." There is nothing in this application to show that it was made on behalf of the Mutt, or that the money paid for the shares consisted of Mutt funds. In Exhibit XXIV, an extract from the share register, the shareholder is given as Sreeman Bagavan Dosjee Nothing is said as to the Mutt having any concern in the transaction. The plaintiff examined no witnesses before the District Court and made no attempt to prove by evidence as to where Bagavan Dosjee got the money that he paid for the shares or that that money was a portion of the funds of the Mutt. The learned counsel for the appellant has, at the hearing of this appeal, referred to certain texts in the Hindu Sacred Law books to show that a Byragi is condemned to a life of perpetual poverty and is incapable of acquiring property for his own use and benefit. Such precepts cannot be looked on as anything more than counsels of perfection and cannot be hold to carry much weight in the absence of clear and satisfactory proof that, as a matter of fact, Bagavan Dosjee had no private funds at his disposal. Exhibit NN the deed under which Bagavan Dosjee, after he had been convicted of a criminal offence and committed to jail, appointed the plaintiff as his successor in the office of Mahant and transferred to him the management of all the Mutt property, does not support the contention now put forward that the executants was not and could not have been possessed of any private funds, for in that document, he is described as "living by lands and acquisition from disciples." It will further be remarked that in this document in which the various descriptions of property held by the Mutt are set out in considerable detail no mention is made of the shares in this company. It is only reasonable to assume that if these shares which are of considerable pecuniary value, had been looked upon by the executant as Mutt property, they would have been mentioned in this document. It must be held that there is no presumption that the money paid by Bagavan Dosjee belonged to the Mutt and that the plaintiff has completely failed to prove such to be the case.

2. It appears that shortly after Bagavan Dosjee had been sent to jail, the plaintiff as his successor in the post of Mahant paid from time to time certain sums as a portion of what was due to the company on account of the shares allotted to Bagavan Dosjee. It is further in evidence that the company received these moneys from the plaintiff, credited them towards what was due on account of these shares, and also that Mr. Stanes on Behalf of the company in certain correspondence which has been filed as evidence alluded to these shares as being the