Content Provider | Supreme Court of India |
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e-ISSN | 30484839 |
Language | English |
Access Restriction | NDLI |
Subject Keyword | Trust and Charities: c Assam State Acquisition of Lands Belonging to Religious or Charitable Institutions of Public Nature Act the electorate for the elect 1959: s. 25A - Scope of - Public religious endownment relating to Maa Kamakhya Temple - Custom pertaining to a temple where women barred from voting to elect thff temple priest - Challenge to - Single Judge upheld the vires of s. 25A - Division Bench held thats. 25A has very limited scope and on the basis of the purported customary practices |
Content Type | Text |
Resource Type | Law Judgement |
Jurisdiction | India |
Case Type | Appeal |
Court | Supreme Court of India |
Disposal Nature | Others |
Headnote | Trust and Charities:Assam State Acquisition of Lands Belonging toReligious or Charitable Institutions of Public Nature Act, 1959:s. 25A - Scope of - Public religious endownmentrelating to Maa Kamakhya Temple - Custom pertaining to atemple where women barred from voting to elect the templepriest - Challenge to - Single Judge upheld the vires of s.25A - Division Bench held that s. 25A has very limited scope;and on the basis of the purported customary practices, theelectorate for the election to the post of Doloi (Head Priest)should be confined only to the male members of the fourBordeurie families - Interference with - Held: Not called for•Division Bench rightly upheld the right of the trustees-Bordeories, their elected agent, the Dolois to take care ofmanagement of secular as well as religious affairs of theKamakhya Temple - Powers of Bordeories and Dolois hasnot been taken away or adversely affected by the Act -Statutory Committee uls.25A is concerned only with theannuity payable or paid under the Act to the Head of theInstitution and not with its ownership or management- Thereis no legislation to exercise restraints in matters essentiallyreligious - There has been no interruption in the essentialcustom whereunder the Bordeori Samaj consisting of all adultmales of Bordeori families enjoys exclusive monopoly overthe power to elect Dolois - Custom of electing the Doloiswas attempted to be changed by the Kamakhya DebutterRegulation but such Regulation does not have acceptanceof the Bordeori Samaj - Regulation, 1998 is not a validinstrument and has no sanction of law for depriving thecustomary rights of the Bordeori Samaj to elect the Dolois.s. 25A - Assam State Acquisition of Lands belongingto Religious or Charitable Institutions of Public Nature(Election of Managing Committee of Sri Sri Maa Kamakhya Temple) Rules, 2012 - Validity of - Challenge to, on theground that though the electoral college for the post of ex-officio Secretary to the Managing Committee includes"deuris/Bordeuris, but the said Rules exclude the Deuris(both male and female) and the female bordeuris of theirvoting rights as well as the right to contest- Held: CJ (b) ins.25A gives a choice or option for electing the ex-officiosecretary either by Dearies or Bordeories depending uponthe facts of a particular religious or charitable institution -Rules of 2012 seek to provide for a Managing Committee in terms of s. 25A only for Maa Kamakhya temple - StateGovernment in the context of this particular institution hasrecognized only Bordeories - Other Devotees, Shebaits andDearies, have a right to participate in. the election of other five members of the Managing Committee - Thus, the Rulessupplement the provisions of the Act and do not run counterto the intention of the legislature- Such Rules must be treatedas part of the Act and in absence of any conflict, the Rulesonly explain the real intention of the legislature in using thesign of slash (/) between the words Dearies and Boundariesin Cl (b) of s. 25A.s. 25A - Nanan Bordeuris filing writ petition regardingthe validity of s. 25A and the rights of the shebaits - Held: Bordeori families enjoy a distinct status and monopoly inmatters connected with the religious as well as secular management of Maa Kamakhya temple and hence, the claimof equality on behalf of Deoris associated with the NananDevalayas or even with Maa Kamakhya Temple cannot beaccepted - State cannot be blamed for creating two electoralcolleges and confining election rolls for the post of ex-offieio secretary only to the members of the Bordeori familiesincluding females - Alleged discrimination vis-a-vis Deorishas no foundation - Plea that Rules must cover not only the.temple and endowment of Maa Kamakhya Devalaya but theentire complex including Nanan Devalayas has no support Cor basis in law - Thus, their exclusion by virtue of Rulesnotified by the State Government is not unconstitutional.Actual election of. Dolois as also electoral collegeprepared for that election - Challenge to - On the ground ofexclusion of women Bordeories and other Deuris, both maleand female - Held: Custom confining the right to vote to onlythe male Bordeuris to the exclusion of Deuris (both maleand female) and the female Bordeuris is not in existence onaccount of any State action - Maa Kamakhya Temple is anancient religious institution of public nature and occupies aplace of pride among Hindu temples - Monopolistic controlof Bordeories over the religious and secular spheres· of thetemple had been resented and challenged by the otherpriests including Dearies Of Nanan Devalayas bui withoutsuccess -Appellants have taken resort to a proceeding u/s.92 CPC before the District Judge - There is no authoritativetextual commentary or report to help this Court in coming toa definite finding that women belonging to Bordeori familiesare equally adapt in religious or secular matters relating tothat temple - Relevant scriptures have also not beendisclosed to this Court - thus, there cannot be a definitefinding on the issue of equality- Constitution of India, 1950.Constitution of India, 1950:Arts. 25(2)(a) and 26(b)-Religious endownments andreligious institutions - Right to manage affairs in the matter ,of religion - Held: Social reforms or the need for regulationscontemplated by Art. 25(2) cannot obliterate essentialreligious practices or their performances - Essential part ofa religion can be ascertained with reference to the doctrineof that religion itself- On facts, Bordouries are the trusteesas well as the priest and they have entrusted the management of religious and secular activities to theirelected representatives, the Dolois - Element of appointmentstands substituted by the action of the trustees themselves-There is no statute framed by the State so far to regulateeven the secular affairs of the temple - Only when such Stateaction takes place, examination of whether interference withthe custom governing appointment of Dolois would amountto regulating only the secular affairs of the temple or it wouldobliterate the essential religious practices would arise.Arts. 13(1), 25(2)(a) and 26(b) - Personal laws andreligious practice - Whether covered by Art. 13(1) - Held:Article 13(1) applies only to such pre-constitution lawsincluding customs inconsistent with the provisions of Part Illof the Constitution and not to religious customs and personallaws protected by the fundamental rights such as Arts. 25and 26 - Religious freedoms protected by Arts. 25 and 26can be curtailed only by law, made by a competent legislatureto the permissible extent-Art. 25(2) provides scope for theState to study and understand all the relevant issues beforeundertaking the changes and reforms relating to religionwhich are sensitive - Court can examine and strike down aState action or law on the grounds of Arts. 14 and 15.Article 12- Definition of State under - Courts, if included in the definition of State - For purposes of issuance of writ,judicial decisions by the judiciary can be included in State action - Held: Judiciary cannot be a State u!Art. 12- Whileacting on the judicial side the courts are not included in thedefinition of the State - Only when they deal with theiremployees or act in other matters purely in administrativecapacity, the courts may fall within the definition of the State for attracting writ jurisdiction against their administrativeactions only - It cannot be said that while acting in judicialcapacity the judiciary acts as the State and hence it must, asa corollary, entertain a writ petition against purely privateparties only because the matter has been brought before the court.Locus standi - Public religious endownment relatingto Maa Kamakhya Temple - Locus standi of administratorof Kamakhya Debuttar Board-appellant to represent the deityof the temple - Single Judge upheld the locus standi of theappellants - Division Bench held that the Kamakf)yaDebutter Regulations/Board has no sanctity in Jaw - Onappeal, held: Writ petitions before the Single Judge or theDivision Bench claimed rights in the petitioners asadministrator or as lawful representative of religiousendowment or the deity and were not in the nature of PIL - Inview of strong and categorical denial made by respondentsto the right of the Debutter Board to represent the deity oftemple in writ petition, the Division Bench could not haveignored the issue of rights and status - On being called uponthrough pleadings, it was necessary for the Division Benchto decide the locus of appellants representing the DebutterBoard - It cannot be said that the Division Bench erred indeciding the locus of the Debutter Board represented by theappellants. |
Judge | Hon'ble Mr. Justice Shiva Kirti Singh |
Neutral Citation | 2015 INSC 487 |
Petitioner | Riju Prasad Sarma Etc. Etc. |
Respondent | State Of Assam & Ors. |
SCR | [2015] 11 S.C.R. 599 |
Judgement Date | 2015-07-07 |
Case Number | 3276-3278 |
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