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1) Whether the suit lands can vest in the respondent Math in the light of the provisions of the Shri Jagannath Temple Act, 1955?

2) Whether even otherwise, the Math had the right to prefer claim rights in respect of the Temple Lands and initiate the proceedings under the OEA Act, 1951 by virtue of being an intermediary?

     3)    What order?


Answer to Point No.1

5. At the outset, before we advert to the rival legal contentions of the learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of both the parties, it is important for us to examine the provisions of the relevant Acts, as well as the previous judgments of this Court on the issue. There are two important acts which operate in the instant case. The first is the Shri Jagannath Temple Act, 1955 (hereinafter referred to as the “Temple Act, 1955”). The long title of the Act reads as follows:

17. We now turn our attention to the validity of the vesting order dated 30.11.1992 passed by the Tahsildar of Puri in O.E.A Claim Case No. 68 of 1990, by which the suit lands were settled in favour of the Temple.

18. Mr. Harin P. Raval, the learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the appellant Temple Committee contends that in view of Section 5 of the Temple Act, 1955 read with Sections 16 and 33 of the said Act, all endowments of the temple, including the properties belonging to or given or endowed for the support of the Temple or given or endowed for the performance of any service including the service of offerings to the deity or charity connected therewith vest in Temple Committee. The learned senior counsel contends that the Temple Act,1955 is a special legislation enacted by the State Government of Odisha and thus overrides any general law enacted. The learned senior counsel contends that by Section 5 of the said Act, the property vested in Temple Committee. The vesting of the property in the Temple Committee is statutory in nature by virtue of Section 5 of the Temple Act,1955. He further contends that once land has been vested with the State, the same is not available for vesting again merely on the application of the amended provisions inserted later in another Act. The learned senior counsel further contends that the Temple Act,1955 is a special law enacted by which the properties and endowments of Lord Jagannath Temple, Puri stood statutorily vested in the Temple Committee. The OEA Act, 1951, on the other hand, was enacted for the purpose of abolishing all rights of ‘intermediaries’ between the raiyats and the State by whatever name known and for the vesting of the same in the State. Thus, the provisions of the OEA Act, even by way of insertion of Section 3A and the issue of a subsequent notification cannot divest the absolute ownership of the endowments of the Temple. The learned senior counsel contends that the endowments vested in the Temple Committee, and thus, ceased to be an intermediary interest and became the absolute vested property of Lord Jagannath. The learned senior counsel places reliance on the judgment of this Court in the case of U.P State Electricity Board & Anr. v. Hari Shankar Jain & Ors.12, wherein this Court while holding that the provisions of a special statute must prevail over those of a general statute held as under:

The said amendment has been enacted with a view to ensuring the proper performance of traditional rites and rituals in the religious institutions. As far as the Lord Jagannath Temple at Puri is concerned, the State Legislature had already enacted the Temple Act, 1955 and vested the land belonging to the Temple in the Temple Management Committee by virtue of Sections 5 and 30 of the Act of 1955. The object of the said Act was to provide for better administration and governance of the affairs of the Temple and its properties. Thus, proviso to Section 2(oo) of the OEA Act, 1951, by which the estates belonging to the Temple of Lord Jagannath at Puri within the meaning of the Temple Act, 1955 are deemed to be Trust Estates is in direct contravention and subversion of the provisions of the Temple Act, 1955. Further, even the contention advanced on behalf of the respondent Math that a subsequent legislation takes precedence over a prior decision is liable to be rejected as the same is not tenable in law. The same becomes clear from the decision of this Court in the case of U.P State Electricity Board referred to supra, wherein a three judge bench had to adjudicate the operation of a subsequent general legislation in the following terms:

24. In the case in hand, the first part of the proviso of Section 2(oo) of the OEA Act, 1951 cannot be allowed to sustain. Clearly, the intention of the legislature could not have been to render virtually the entire Temple Act, enacted on the specific subject, meaningless, by way of enacting a proviso to Section 2(oo) of the OEA Act, 1951 as an amendment in 1974, which is the general legislation in the instant case. Section 2(oo) of the OEA Act, 1951, thus, to that extent requires to be struck down so that both the OEA Act, 1951 as well as the Temple Act, 1955 can be given due effect in their respective field of operation. In exercise of the powers conferred under Article 142 of the Constitution, this Court can pass any order as may be “necessary for doing complete justice” in a case before it. In the instant case, great injustice will be caused to the appellant Temple if the rights conferred upon it by the Temple Act are allowed to be taken away by operation of the proviso to Section 2(oo) of the OEA Act. Therefore, we have to strike down the proviso to Section 2(oo) of the OEA Act and also quash the notification dated 18.03.1974 in so far as it relates to the property of Lord Jagannath Temple at Puri.