Manipur act 012 of 1972 : The Shri Govindaji Temple Act, 1972

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. , '2' 3:1: of Publication 2.9.11' Ll 19'}

THE SHRI GOVINDAJI- TEMPLE

7W"

to pro Vide for the preservation of cultural tradition andfor the maintenance and better administration 'Qf thetemple Q/"S/zrz' Govina'ajz' at Imphal and ilsendowmenfs.WHEREAS it is expedientte make a law for the preserva-tion of cultural tradition with respect to the deity "Of Shri Govindaji and for the maintenance and better administra-tion of the temple thereof and its endowments ;.It is hereby enacted by the Legislature of Manipuh-iﬁ; theTwenty-third Year bf the Republic of India as follows ts~ 1. (1) This Act may be called the Shri Govindaji Temple '31;Act, 1972. '9'

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(2) It shall come into force on such date as the State ovemment may, by notiﬁcation; in the Ofﬁcial Gazette,appoint. '

2. In this Act, unless the context otherWise requires,~ rm((1) "Board" means the SIM Govindaii Temple;Board established and constituted ~under thiS ct; - '(2:) "Deputy Cgmmissioner" means the Depﬂtyf ;- Commissioner of Manip'ur Central District ;(e) 'fEndowment" means all property, movable or

21 ,

(i) the Temple,

(ii) the idols installed therein,

(iii) the precincts thereof, and

(iv) the gifts of property or offering made toto any of the dieties worshipped therein ;

(d) "Executive 'Oﬁicer" means the Executive Ofﬁcerof the Temple appeinted under this Act ;

(e) "ex—Ruler" means the eX~Ruler of Manipur who,at any time before the commencement of theConstitutien (Twenty-Sixth Amendment) Act,1972, wae recognised by the President of Indiaas the Ruler of Manipur, and includes his successors under the rule of primogeniture ;

(f) "Member" means a member of the Shri GovindajiTemple Board and does not include the President ;(g) "Ofﬁcial Gazette"_ means the Manipur Gazette;' (h) "Prescribed" means prescribed by; rules madeunder this Act ; (1') "President" means the President of the ShriGovindaji Temple Board ; '

(j) "Speciﬁed endowment" means any property, endowment, or money donated for the perfor-mance of any particular service or any particularcharity connected with the temple and anyof the idols installed therein ;

(k) "State Government" means the State Govern-ment of Manipur ;

(1) "Temple" means the temple of Shri Govindajiat Imphal and includes all appurtenant structures together With all additions thereto or allalterations thereof which may be made from time to time after the commencement of thisAct ;

(m) "Temple-fund" means the endowment andinc udes all sums of money received by or on behalf of, or for the time being held for thebeneﬁt of, the Temple or any diety worshipped 'therein ; and

(n) "Vice-President" means the Vice-President ofthe Shri Govindaji Temple Board.

3. (1) The administration and the governance of theTemple and the Temple fund shall vest in the Shri Govindaji Temple Board constituted under this Act.

(2) The) ownership of the Temple fund shall vest inthe deity of Shri Govin,daji,'and the Board shall be entitled to its possession.

4. (1;) The Shri Govindaji Temple Board shall be constituted by a President, and ex—oﬂicio member and nineother membrs. '

(2) ' The ex-Ruler of Manipur shall be the President of the Board, if he is not disqualiﬁed for any of the reasons speciﬁed in section 6_:

Provided that in case the ex-Ruler is not willing to saw as the President of the Board or in case he has no successor in the male line,the State Government shall make appointment of a person as the President.

(3) .The Deputy Commissioner shall be the ex-oiﬁcio member 'of the Board : .

Provided that in case the Deputy Commissioner does not profess the Hindu religion, he shall deput'e the Sub- Divisional Ofﬁcer of either Imphal West or Impha] East Sub~Division professing the Hindu religion to function on his behalf'as the ex-oﬂicio member.

(4) The State Government shall appoint the other nine members of the Board, Who shall be persons not dis- qualiﬁed for any of the reasons speciﬁed in section 6 :

Provided that two such members shall be from amongst the 'Hindu members of the Legislative Assembly of Manipur and one such member from amongst the Hindu Commissioners of the Imphal Municipal Board : »

Provided further that When as a result of dissolution there is no Legislative Assembly of Manipur or no Imphal Municipal Board, the State Government shall not be required to make such appointments in accordance With the ﬁrst 'proviso to this sub-section. '

. (5) The State Government shall appoint any member of the Board as the Vice-President thereof. Explanation.~For the purposes of this section, the word

"dissolution" in 'the' second proviso to sub—section (4)1ncludes supersession of the Imphal Municipal Board, . Adm

"on or:

Templg:

Compéi tion om

ﬂra- 5. (1) The Board shall be a body corporate. and shallhave perpetual successmn and a common seal and mayseu or besued in its name.

(2) As soon as the Board is constituted under. section 4,the State Government shall make notiﬁcation thereof inthe Oﬂicial Gazette. - ca. 6. A person shall be disqualiﬁed for being chosen as, and$525111; for being, a member of the Board

(a) if he holds any ofﬁce of proﬁt under the adminis-tration of the Temple, or receives any emolumentsor perquisites from the Temple fund, otherthan those granted under section 14 ;.'or

(b) if he is interested in a contract for making suppliesto, or executing any work on behalf of theadministration of the Temple ; or

. (c) if he is of unsound mind and stands sodeclaredby a competent court ; or

(d) if he is an undischarged insolvent ; or

(e) if he is not a citizen of India ; or

(f) if he is a minor or a deaf-mute or suffers fromcontagious leprosy ; or'

(g) if he has been convicted of an oﬂence (which,in the opinion of the State Government,'iny_lolvesmoral turpitude; or '

(h) if he does not profess theHindu- religion ; or

(i) if he has, in the opinion of the State Goveemment, acted in a manner prejudicial to the interestof the endowment. ' Jenn of 7. The members of the Board, other than the ex-oﬂiciom" member thereof, shall subject to the provisions of section 8,9, and 12, hold ofﬁce 'for 1a period of :three years from thedate. on which the constitution of the Board is notiﬁed inthe Ofﬁcial Gazette undersub-section (2) of section 5 :

Provided that the State Government may, by notiﬁcationin the Oﬂicial'Gazette extend the term ofrt e members for a period not exceeding three months at a time-and s'ixmonthsin'the aggregate :

Provided further that if a member, having been appointed under the ﬁrst proviso to sub-sectlon (4) of section 4, ceases to be a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manipur or a Commissioner of the Imphal Municipal Board, as the case may be, he shall ipso facto cease to be a member of the Board.

8. (1) The President may at any time, by writing under "*ﬁ' hiisfl hand addressed to the State Government, resign his L 0 cc.

(2) The Vice-President may, at any time, by writing under his hand addressed to the President, resign his ofﬁce ' Without, however, giving up his membership of the Board.

(3) A member, other than the ex—oﬁicio member, may at any time, by writing under his hand addressed to the President, resign his oﬂice.

. '(4) The letter of resignation under sub-section (2) or , sub-section (3) shall, as soon as it is received, be transmitted by the President to the State Government.

9. (1) The State Government may at any time suspend Removq or remove the President from oﬁieeron any of the grounds mentioned in clauses (a), (b) and (c) of sub-section (2) of this section :

Provided that in the case of disqualiﬁcation of ex-Ruler on the ground of his minority, the State Government shall appoint a person to function as the President until the ex-Ruler attains majority under the Indian Majority Act, 1875 (IX of

1875).

(2) The State Government may at any time suspend or remove from oﬂice the Vice-President or any member, other'than the ex-oﬁicio member, of the'Board on any of the following grounds, namely : _

(a) that he has been guilty of corruption of miscon- duct in the administration ofthe endowment ; or

(b) that, being a legal practitioner, he has acted or appeared on behalf of any person against the Board in any legal proceeding ; or

(e) that he is or has become subject to any of the disqua-

" liﬁcations mentioned in section 6 ; or

(d) that he has absented himself from more than three consecutive meetings of the Board and fails to - ex— plam such absence to the satisfaction of the Board,

25' g! 19. Casual vacancies in the ofﬁce. of President, the 1E' V1' 'ee-President and any member of the Board shall be ﬁlledup by the State Government by appointment of persons whoare not disqualiﬁed under section 6 :Provided that if the vacancy is that of the President, thesucessor of the ex-Ruler by the rule of primogeniture shall,unless disqualiﬁed under section 6, be the President. 11. A 'person who holds, or who has held, ofﬁce as the . the Vice-President or any other member shall, subject to thethe provisions of this Act, be eligible for reappointmentto that office. '

12. (1) If in the opinion of the State Government the Board is not competent to perform, or persistently the provisions contained in sub-section (1) and sub-section (2), dissolve the Board by notiﬁcation in the Ofﬁcial Gazette and direct the reconstitution of another Board in accordance with the provisions of this Act.

(4) Where the Board .is dissolved or ysuperseded under this section, the State Government shall appoint a person to perform the functions, and exercise, the powers, of theatd until the constitution of another Board in accordance with the previsions of this Act.

(5) The 'State Government may ﬁx the remuneration of the person appointed under sub-section (4), and it shall be paid from the Temple fund.

13. (1) The Oﬂice of the Board shall be at Imphal. V (2) Every meeting of the Board shall be presided over by the President, and in his absence, by the Vice-President, and in the absence of both, by a member to be chosen by the members present. '

(3) The quorum for a meeting of the Board shall be ﬁve, and if at any time during a meeting of the Board there ' is no quorum, it shall be the duty of the President or the person acting assuch, to adjourn the meeting. :

' Provided that if no quorum is present at a meeting at any time from the beginning to the end thereof, the presiding authority shall, after waiting for not more than thirty minutes, adjourn the meeting to such time of the following or some other future day as it may reasonably ﬁx and shall notify, and the business which would have been disposed of at the original meeting, had there been a quorum thereat, shall be brought before the adjourned meeting and may be disposed of at such meeting or at any subsequent ad- journment thereof Whether there be a quorum present or not.

(4) Meetings of the Board shall be held at least once in two months, and the place for such a meeting shall be at Imphal unless a majority of the members decide to meet at some other convenient place.

(5) All questions at any meeting of the Board shall be determined by a majority of votes of the members present and voting, other than the President or the person acting as such. »

The President,_ or theperson acting as such, shall not vote in the ﬁrst instance, but shall have and * exercise a casting- vote in the case of an equality of votes.

(6) The Board shall have power to act notwithstanding any vacancy in the membership thereof, and any proceedings. of a meeting of the Board shall- be valid notwithstanding that it is discovered subsequently that some person who was not entitled 'so to do, sat or voted 'or otherwise took part in the prowedings,

- 14.' The President, the ViceaPresid-ent and every other mber of the Board shall be entitled to receive from the mple fund such travelling and sitting allowances as may i$e prescribed. .

15. Subject to the provisions of this Act or Of the rules made thereunder, the functions of the Board shallbe—

(a) to make arrangement for the safe custody and preservation of the Temple fund and for main- tenance of accounts thereof f

(b) to provide facilities for the proper performance of worship by worshippers and pilgrims ;

(i) the construction of _ buildings for their accommodation,

(ii) the construction of sanitary works, and

(iii) the improvement ofmeans ofcommunication;

(d) to make suitable arrangement for imparting religious instruction ;

(e) to make provision for medical relief of worship- pers and pilgrims ; ,

(f) to make provision for the payment of subitable emoluments to its salaried staﬁ' ;

(g) to raise funds and incur expenditure for the performance of any of the functions of the Board; and

(h) to do all such things as may be incidental and conducive to the efﬁcient management, main- tenance and administration of the Temple and the Temple fund and the convenience of the pilgrims.

1M» * 16. The President, the Vice-President and the other ' '°' members of the Board shall, jointly and severally, be liable for the loss, waste or misapplication of the Temple fund :

Provided that if .such loss, waste or misapplimtion is a direct consequence of the wilful act or omission of a person while he was the President, the Vice-President or a member, a. suit. for compensation may be instituted against such a person by-the Board or by the State Government.

' 172(1) Notwithstandingthe provision of. sub-seetion (1) "

of section 3-,- all matters connected with the seva and puja 5

and other, ceremonies and of festivals of the Temple according to the customs and usages of the Hindu religion shall be under the direct control of the President and under the supervision of the Board. '

(2) The "expenditure to be incurred in such celebrations shall be provided for in the annual budget of the Temple.

18. Any speciﬁc endowment shall be administered by the Board for the performance of the particular, service or the particular charity according to the wishes of th e donOr m

of such endowment.

19'. The Board shall have no power to borrow or lend 14"

money except With the pr'ev1ous sanction of the State Govern- m

ment. ,

20. No part of the Temple 'f'und shall be tra nsferred

without the previous sanction of the State Go vernment.

21. (1) The State Government shall, on the enforcement Ex'

of this Act, appoint a person possessing the prescribed

qualiﬁcations. as the Executive Ofﬁcer of the Te mple.

(2) The Executive Ofﬁcer shall be the Secret ary to the

Board, who shall, subject to the control of the Board, have

general power to carry out the provisions of this Act, the

rules and the bye-laws made thereunder and the resolutions

passed by the Board.

(3) The Executive Officer shall perform s uch other

duties and' exercise such other powers as may be delegated

to him from time to time by the Boarci. '

(4) The State Government shall ﬁx the rem uneration

of tcille Executive Ofﬁcer and it shall be paid. fr om the Temple

fun .

22. (1) The Board shall, with the approval of the StateW

Government, determine from time to ti me the number,

designation, and" grade of its ofﬁcers and se rvants and the

scale ofpay and allowances for them.

(2) The Board shall appoint the ofﬁcers a nd servants

of the Board.

(3) The oﬁicers-and servants of the Board sha ll perfbrm

such duties and exercise such powers as may, f rom time

to time, be ﬁxed by the Executive Ofﬁcer with the approval

of the Board, "

sadit. ' H

(4) The ay and allowances of the ofﬁcers and servantsshall be paid gem the Temple fund.

(5) The Board may SUSpend, remove, dismiss or reducein rank or in any way punish all ofﬁcers and servants ofthe Board other than the Executive Ofﬁcer, in accordance with rules made by the State Government. v (6) Any ofﬁcer or servant who is aggrieved by an orderpassed under sub—sectr'on (5) may prefer an appeal to theState Government against such an order withm sixty daysof the date of service of such an order :

Provided that no appeal against an order other- thanan order for removal or dlsmissal shall lie to the StateGovernment.

shall, unless otherwise provided in an order issued in that behalf by the State Government, be dispensed with.

(2) After the commencement of this Act by notiﬁcation under sub—seetz'on 2) of section 1 and before the constitution ' of the Board by notiﬁcation under sub-sectlon (2) of section 5,the State Government may appoint one or more personst}: discharge all or any of the functions of the Board under t. 's Act.

24. The President, the Vice-President and the othermembers, the Executive-Ofﬁcer and other ofﬁcers and servantsof the Board shall, while acting or purporting to act inpursuance of the provisions of this Act or any rule, bye-Iaw or order made thereunder, be deemed to be public servantsWithin the meaning of sect'on 21 of the Indian Penal Code.25. (1) The State Government shall every year appointan auditor to audit the accounts ofthe Temple fund.

(2) The remuneration of the auditor shall be ﬁxed by the State Government at the time of his appointmentand shall be paid from the Temple fund. ' (3,) The auditor shall submit the audit—report to theBoard and send a copy of it to the State Government.

(4) The State Government may issue such directionsand pass such orders on the audit-report as it may deem ﬁt, and the Board shall carry them out.

26. (1) The Board. shall in reSpect of every ﬁnancial Budgeﬁiiyear prepare or cause to ~> be prepared an annual budget .containing a statement , of the estimated receipts andexpenditure of * the administration of the Temple for thatyear.

(2) Board shall consider and pass the budget with' alterations, if any, at a meeting or meetings before the commencement .of that year, and a copy of the budget shall:besmtto-the' State Government as soon as it is so passed.

27. The Board shall annually prepare and submit to A ,the State Government a report on the administration of ""1 R]; the affairs ofthe Temple at such time as may be prescribed. .28. (l) The State Government may, from time to timeissue such directions to the Board as it may deem ﬁt, and Sthe-Board s'hallicarry them out. t

(2) The State Government shall have power to call for such information and. accounts from the Board as may in ace. its opinion be necessary for reasonably satisfying itself thatthe Temple and the Temple . fund are properly managed,maintained and administered, and the Board shall, on suchrequisition, furnish forthwith such information and accountsto the State Government. 29 (1) The State Government may depute a person to Inspection;-inspect any movable or immovable property, records,..-cor:respondence, plans, accounts, and other documents, relating --to the Temple.

. (2) The person appointed under this section may alsoinspect-whether a speciﬁc endowment, if any, is administered accor'dingto the wishes of the donor of such an endowment.3(3) TheBoard and its employees shall, for the purposesof inspection,~»render all facilities to the person appointedunder this section.

. :30; (l) The IBoard'may make bye-laws not inconsistent Power of W; with this Act or the rules made thereunder or any other ggigdbg;law for— laws.

(a) the procedure and conduct of business at meetings. of the Board, the manner in which' 'notice of its meetings . shall be given and the

wuwf _ am 6'6.

(b) the formation of committees, and' the delegation of powers to such committee ; .

(d) thedcustody and investment of the Temple un ;

(e) the collection of the daily offerings to thexde'ities worshipped in the Temple ;

(f) the maintenance of order inside the Temple- and regulatingthe entry of persons therein. ; and

(g) the performance of functions provided in, section 15. '

(2) No bye-law or cancellation or alteration thereof made by the Board shall have effect until it is conﬁrmed by the State Government. ' -

(3) Where a bye-law or cancellation, or alteration thereof is submitted to the State Government for con- ﬁrmation, the State, Government ma --

(a) conﬁrm it as a whole ; or

(b) conﬁrm it With some changes ; or

(4) A bye-law or cancellation or alteration thereof conﬁrmed under clause (a) or Clause(b) of sub—section (3) shall be published in the Ofﬁcial Gazette, and-shall thereafter have the force of 'laW.

31. If in obtaining possession of any property which -_ forms the Temple fund or- part of it- the Beard is resisted or obstructed. by any person.» it may make anapplication to the Magistrate having-jurisdiCtion, complaining of such resistance .or obstructioh,' and. such? Magistrateshall, nnless he is satisﬁed that the resistance or obstruction was oecasroned by any person claiming in good faith to be m possessmn on his own account or by virtue of some right independent of that of the .Temple, make .an order that the Bbardlbe put into possession of ' the property. Such order shall,- subject to the result of any suit which may be ﬁled to estabhsh the right to the possessioniof the property, be ﬁnal.

32. All costs and expenses incutred by the Board in connection with any legal proceedings required in the ifnteaest of the Temple shall be payable out of the Temple un ,

33 (1) This Act shall have effect notwithstanding anything 0 to the contrary contained in any law for the time being in «ﬁg force or in any scehme of management framed before the AW?"

commencement of this Act or in any decree, order, practice, . i custom or usage. '

(2) Section 92 of the Code of Civil Procedure. 1908 shall not apply to any suit against the Board. . '34. (l) The State Government may, be notiﬁcation in Pom:

. Ofﬁcial Gazette, make rule for carrying out the purposes 22 this Act. :31

(2) In particular and Without prejudice to the generality ""3""

the forgoing power, such rules may provide for——

(a) all matters expressly required or allowed by this Act to be provided for by rules;

(b) the quliﬁcation for the Executive Ofﬁcer and other oﬂicers and servents of the Board, the establishment of provident fund for them and the conditions of their service;

(d) the payment of travelling allowance and sitting allowances of the President, the Vice-President and the other members of the Board;

(e) the budgets, returns, accounts, reports, and any other information to be submitted by the Board to the State Government; and

(f) the co-option by the Board of not more than two members subject to the retriction that the co-opted members shall not have the right to vote'at any metting of the Board.

35. Whenever any difﬁculty arises in giving effect pommg'; to any of the provisions of this Act, the rules, bye-laws State 3 and orders made thereunder, the State Government may 5mg?"

give such directions as may appear to it to be necessary difﬁcultieu for the purpose of removing (the difficulty.

36. No suit or proceeding shall lie in any Court against 13" '36;ng the State Government for anything done or purported to ?.Egmmg be done by it under the provisions of this Act. 3133:». t}

:33

STATEMENT OF OBJECTS & REASONS'e Constitution (Ttventy-Sngt:l1 Amendment) Act, 1971 has been ed with effed from 28~12~7l. The Ruler of Manipur stands

gnised. According to the Article II of the Manipur Merger

ﬁght the Ex~Ruler was managing the affairs of the temple of

' Shree GJVindajee after derecognlsatlon of the Ruler. There

and from the general public of Manipur that a trustee should

lscituted for the management of the above temple. To fulﬁl

_ sgre of the general public, the Shri Govindaji Temple Bill is

duced on the table of the House.

. {.lnzplzal, 4th November, 1972.

YUMNAM YAIMA

Executive Ofﬁcer 1 Q2; Rs 750 — Rs 9,000,"-Clerk ~ 2 @ Rs. 250/- ' Rs. 6,000;- Peon l QD, Rs 150/- Rs. 1,800 '—Q' Sweeper 3 Q9 Rs lSO/- Rs. 5,400,"-Bramhins 5 (co Rs 250/- Rs. 15,000,"—Diuhons 4 Q5 Rs 200/- Rs 9,600 - ._) Others establishment Rs 5.000 -

) Daily pujas etc. ' Rs. 4,200]— ) Misc. Expenditure forother festival, etc.

Rs. 10,000?-

Totalw

Rs. 66,000]—

MEMO ON DELEGATED LEGISLATION"Clauses 34 of the proposed law provides {Or the powers of the ,..§ta_te Government to make rules for carrying out the burposes of2.6 proposed law. These powers are of general and procedural