Shree Siddhi Vinayak Ganpati Temple Trust (Prabhadevi) Act, 1980

No: 6 Dated: Jan, 17 1981

SHREE SIDDHI VINAYAK GANPATI TEMPLE TRUST (PRABHADEVI) ACT, 1980

ACT No. VI OF 1981

    An Act to reconstitute the trust popularly known as "Shri Siddhi Vinayak Ganpati Temple Trust of Prabhadevi" and to provide for management by a Committee to enable the Trust to undertake wider welfare activities for the public.

    Whereas, the administration of public trust registered under the Bombay Public Trust Act, 1950, with the name "Shree Ganpati Temple at Prabhadevi Road, Dadar, Bombay" and popularly knows as Shree Siddhi Vinayak Ganpati Temple Trust of Prabhadevi, was vested in the Official Trustee for the State of Maharashtra by virtue of a consent decree dated the 16th June 1936 passed by the High Court of Judicature at Bombay in suit No. 217 of 1932;

    And Whereas, by his judgment dated the 5th July 1980 given in suo motu scheme framing proceeding No. 32 of 1977 under section 50A(1) of the Bombay Public Trusts Act, 1950, the Joint Charity Commissioner had inter alia appointed the Maharashtra Executor and Trustee Company Ltd., as the Custodian Trustee and vested the properties of the trust in that trustee and had appointed a Board of Managing Trustees and had directed the Custodian Trustee to take appropriate proceeding in the High Court for direction to the Official Trustee, if he did not hand over the possession or transfer the properties to the Custodian Trustee on being called upon to do so within a reasonable time;

    And Whereas, being aggrieved by this judgment of the Joint Charity Commissioner, one of the parties had obtained a stay order from the Charity Commissioner against implementation of the Joint Charity Commissioner's orders;

    And Whereas, the trust in question has large properties and is very popular among the devotees, but on account of continuous litigation, the growing income of the trust could not be fully utilised so far; and it was necessary that further time and expenditure on litigation should be avoided;

    And Whereas, the Government of Maharashtra was satisfied that for this important and popular trust there should be a separate law to reconstitute the trust and to provide for management by a Committee directly under Government supervision to enable the trust to give more facilities for the devotees and to undertake wider welfare activities from its surplus funds for the general public;

    And Whereas, both Houses of the State Legislature were not in session;

    And Whereas, the Governor of Maharashtra was satisfied that circumstances existed which rendered it necessary for him to take immediate action to make a law for the purposes aforesaid and for that purpose promulgated Shree Siddhi Vinayak Ganpati Temple Trust (Prabhadevi) Ordinance, 1980 on the 11th October 1980;

    And Whereas, it is expedient to replace the said Ordinance by an Act of the State Legislature;

It is hereby enacted in the Thirty-first Year of the Republic of India as follows :-

1. Short title and commencement. - (1) This Act may be called Shree Siddhi Vinayak Ganapati Temple Trust (Prabhadevi) Act, 1980.

(2) It shall be deemed to have come into force on the 11th day of October 1980.

2. Definitions. - In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-

(a) "appointed day" means the day on which this Act is deemed to have come into force;

(b) "Committee" means the Committee for management of the Temple Trust as constituted under this Act;

(c) "Executive Officer" means the Executive Officer of the Committee;

(d) "Management Fund" means the Management Fund of the Committee constituted under this Act;

(e) "member" means a member of the Committee, and includes the Chairman and the "Treasurer" of the Committee;

(f) "Official Trustee" means the Official Trustee for the State of Maharashtra appointed under the Official Trustees Act, 1913;

(g) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made by the State Government under this Act;

(h) "regulations" means regulations made by the Committee under this Act;

(i) "Temple" means the temple of Ganpati and other deities belonging to the Temple Trust and popularly known as Shree Siddhi Vinayak Temple at Prabhadevi in Bombay;

(j) "Temple Trust" or "Trust" means the Trust of the Temple as constituted under this Act;

(k) "Trust Fund" means the Fund of the Temple Trust constituted under this