- (1.) These four appeals which are on certificates of fitness granted by the High Court of Andhra Pradesh arise out of decrees passed in applications filed under O. 20, R. l2, Civil Procedure Code in two suits brought by the Tirumalai Tirupathi Devastham Committee (hereinafter referred to as the Devasthanam Committee) the predecessor of the respondents for the ascertainment of mesne profits of the Devasthanam properties in the possession of the Mahant of the Sri Hathiramjee Mutt who is the Vicharanikartha or manager of the Tirumalai Tirupathi temples was previously in management of the properties of the temple. From the decrees passed by the Principal Subordinate Judge of Chittoor in the two applications, to the details of which we shall refer presently, two appeals were filed to the High Court and they were there consolidated for hearing and are covered by a common judgment. As the judgment of the High Court somewhat varied the decree granted by the Subordinate Judge the learned Judges granted a certificate of fitness under Art. 133(1) of the Constitution. Appeals 106 and 107 have been filed by the Mahant while the Devasthanam Committee have preferred appeals 108 and 109.
(2.) The properties which are the subject matter of these proceedings belong to the Idol installed in the famous temple of Tirupathi in the State of Andhra Pradesh. The East India Company were, till about the middle of the last century, in management and administration of the properties of this famous temple of Lord Venkateswara or Srinivasa, also known as Balaji in Northern India and the other connected temples, and after the Madras Regulation 7 of 1817 was passed it was placed under the control and management of the Board of Revenue who carried on the administration through the Collector of the District. As is well-known, there was a movement in England in about 1840 which disapproved a Christian Government like the East India Company being incharge of or administering Hindu or Muslim religious institutions and the Board of Directors in conformity with these ideas, effected a change in their policy, and as a result of orders passed by the Board of Directors the authorities in India relinquished charge of the management of such institutions. Among these institutions was the Devasthanam of Tirupathi-Tirumalai group of temples, and under orders of the Government the management of the properties of the Devasthanam was transferred to the Mahant of Sri Hathiramjee Mutt (whom we shall hereafter refer for convenience as the Mahant) who, as the head of that Mutt, had his headquarters at Tirupathi.
(3.) The successors in the office of the Mahant of the Mutt were, in accordance with the sanad by which the East India Company transferred the right of management, successively in management of the institution but during later years there were complaints of mismanagement and in the early years of this century a suit was instituted under S. 92 of the Civil Procedure Code for the framing of a scheme for the better management of the institution and such a scheme was framed by the District Court which was, with some modification, affirmed by the High Court and later by the Privy Council Vide Prayag Das Ji v.Triumala Srirangacharla, ILR 30 Mad 138 (PC). As the administration even under this scheme proved unsatisfactory and there were several serious charges of mismanagement alleged against the Mahant in regard to the affairs of the temple the Madras Legislature enacted Act 19 of 1933 - The Tirumalai Tirupathi Devasthanam Act. The Act came into force on June 6, 1933. Its S. 2 enacted : "On the coming into force of this Act- (a) the arrangement made by the Local Government in 1843 for the management of the Tirumalai Tirupathi Devasthanams and the scheme settled by the Privy Council in appeal 6 of 1906 together with the Rules framed thereunder, shall cease to be operative." Under S. 5 of the enactment the administration of the Devasthanams which was defined to mean the temples specified in the Sch. I attached to the enactment and the endowments thereof etc'. was directed to vest in a Committee called "The Tirumalai Tirupathi Devasthanams Committee" which was to be a body corporate having perpetual succession and a common seal with the right to sue and be sued in the said name." We are not now concerned with the other provisions of the enactment but it would be sufficient to notice that by reason of this vesting under S. 5 the Mahant of Tirupathi who is the appellant in Civil Appeals 106 and 107 of 1962 and the respondent in the other two appeals ceased to have the right to remain in possession of the properties of the Devasthanams. This obvious position was emphasised by a specific provision contained in S. 45 of the same Act which read: "The Committee shall be entitled to take and be in possession of all the institutions, properties, jewels, records and documents of the Devasthanams." Provision was also made for the contingency of the Committee not being able to obtain possession voluntarily. Section 45 (2) was this provision and it ran: "If in obtaining such possession the Committee is resisted or obstructed by any person it may make an application to the Court complaining of such resistance or obstruction and the Court shall, unless it is satisfied that the resistance or obstruction was occasioned by any person claiming in good faith to be in possession on his own account or by virtue of some right independent of that of the Devasthanams, make an order that the Committee be put into possession. Such order shall, subject to the result of any suit which may be filed to establish the right to the possession of the property, be final." The demand of the Committee which was constituted on June 7, 1933 i.e., immediately on the coming into force of the Act, to the possession of the property belonging to the Devasthanams Committee filed an original petition in 1934 under S. 45(2) to the District Court for a direction that the Mahant should be directed to put them in possession of the property. As complicated questions relative to the title to the several properties claimed by the Devasthanams were raised by the Mahant the learned District Judge referred the Devasthanam to a regular suit by his order dated April 18, 1936. Two suits O. S. 51 and 52 of 1937 were accordingly filed by the Devasthanam on April 9, 1937. O. S. 51 was to recover possession of 10. items of property situated at Tirupathi and Tirumalai and O. S. 52 was to recover one item of property situated at Tirupathi. The relief claimed in the suits was for possession of the properties which was specified in the plaint and for mesne profits. The learned Subordinate Judge decreed the two suits on June 15, 1942 and granted to the plaintiff possession and directed an enquiry into and a decree for mesne profits payable by the Mahant from June 7, 1933. The defendant Mahant took the matter in appeal but the appeal was dismissed on February 19, 1945, the learned Judges confirming the decree of the trial Court with very slight variations.;