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PETITIONER: DEOKI NANDAN
Vs.
RESPONDENT: MURLIDHAR.
DATE OF JUDGMENT: 04/10/1956
BENCH: AIYYAR, T.L. VENKATARAMA BENCH: AIYYAR, T.L. VENKATARAMA JAGANNADHADAS, B. SINHA, BHUVNESHWAR P. DAS, S.K.
CITATION: 1957 AIR 133 1956 SCR 756
ACT: Hindu Law-Religious endowment-Temple-Public or private -Question of mixed fact and law-Gift to idol--Whether worshippers are the beneficiaries-Dedication to public- Construction of will -Ceremonies relating to installation of idol-User of temple.
HEADNOTE: The issue whether a religious endowment is a public or a private one is a mixed question of law and fact the decision of which must depend on the application of legal concepts of a public and a private endowment to the facts found and is open to consideration by the Supreme Court. Lakshmidhar Misra v. Bangalal ([1949] L.R. 76 I.A. 271), re- ferred to. The distinction between a private and a public endowment is that whereas in the former the beneficiaries are specific individuals, in the latter they are the general public or a class thereof. 757 Though under Hindu law an idol is a juristic person capable of holding property, and the properties endowed for the temple vest in it, it can have no beneficial interest in the endowment, and the true beneficiaries are the worshippers, as the real purpose of a gift of properties to an idol is not to confer any benefit on God, ...