Rajasthan Public Trust Act, 1959
No: 42 Dated: Oct, 22 1959
Rajasthan Public Trust Act, 1959
(Rajasthan Act No. 42 of 1959)
An Act to regulate and to make better provision for the administration of public religious and charitable trusts in the State of Rajasthan.
Be it enacted by the Rajasthan State Legislature in the Tenth Year of the Republic of India as follows:-
CHAPTER I
Preliminary
1. Short title, extent and commencement. - (1) This Act may be called the Rajasthan Public Trusts Act, 1959.
(2) It extends to the whole of the State of Rajasthan.
(3) Chapters 1, H, III and IV of this Act shall come into force at once.
(4) Chapters 2[V, VI, VII, VIII, IX and X] of this Act shall come into force on such late, and shall apply therefrom in relation to such class or classes of public trusts, as the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify; and for the purpose of such application the State Government may classify such public trusts in the state on the basis of the income thereof or on the basis of the value of their total assets or In the basis of other financial factors.
(5) Before the publication of any notification under Sub-section (4) a draft thereof hall be published in the Official Gazette for the information of all persons likely to be affected thereby and a notice shall be published therewith, specifying the date on or after which the draft shall be taken into consideration and before which any objections or suggestions shall be received.
(6) Chapter XI of this Act shall come into force on such date as the State 3overnment may, by special notification in the Official Gazette, specify; and the State Government may, having regard to the population of different cities and towns, specify different dates for the application of Chapter XI of this Act thereto.
(7) Chapters XII and XIII of this Act shall commence to apply in relation to the provisions of each of the other chapters of this Act on the date on which such other chapter comes into force.
2. Definitions. -In this Act, unless the subject or context requires otherwise,-
(1) "Assistant Commissioner" means an Assistant Devasthan Commissioner appointed under Section 8 and shall include such other officer of Government as may be notified by the State Government to be the Assistant Commissioner for specified area for the purposes of this Act;
(2) "Board" means the State Advisory Board for public trusts established under Section 11;
(3) "Charitable endowment" means all property given or endowed for the benefit of, or used as of right by, the community or any section thereof for the support or maintenance of objects of utility to the said community or section, such as Rest Houses, Pathsalas, Schools and Colleges. Houses for feeding the poor and Institutions for the advancement of education, medical relief and public health or other objects of a like nature and includes the institution concerned;
(4) "Commissioner" means the Devasthan Commissioner appointed under Section 7;
(5) "Committee" means a Regional Advisory Committee for public trusts established under Section 13;
(6) "Court" means the District Court;
(7) "Hereditary trustee" means the trustee of a public trust succession to whose office devolves by hereditary right or is regulated by usage or is specifically provided for by the founder;
(8) "Math" means an institution for the promotion of a religion presided over by a person whose duty it is to engage himself in imparting religious instruction or rendering spiritual service to a body of disciples or who exercises or claims to exercise head-ship over such a body and includes places of religious worship or instruction which are appurtenant to the institution;
(9) "Person having interest" or any expression signifying a person having interest in a public trust includes -
(a) in the case of a temple, a person who is entitled to attend or is in the habit of attending the performance of worship or service in the temple or who is entitled to partaking or is in the habit of partaking in the distribution of gifts thereof;
(b) in the case of a math, a disciple of the math or a person of the religious persuasion to which the math belongs;
(c) in the case of a society registered or deemed to be registered under the Rajasthan Societies Registration Act, 1958 (Rajasthan Act 28 of 1958) or under any other analogous law in force in any part of the State, any member of such society; and
(d) in the case of any other public trust, any beneficiary;
(10) "Public securities" means -
(a) securities of the Central Government or any State Government;
(b) stocks, debentures or shares in railway or other companies in public sector, the interest or dividend on which has been guaranteed by the Central or any State Government;
(c) a security expressly authorised by an order which the State Government makes in this behalf;
(11) "Public trust" means an express or constructive trust for either a public religious or charitable purpose or both and includes a temple, a math, dharmada or any other religious or charitable endowment or institution and a society formed either for a religious or charitable purpose or for both;
(12) "Register" means a register maintained under Sub-section (2) of Section 16;
(13) "Religious endowment" or "endowment" means all property belonging to or given or endowed for the support of a religious institution or given or endowed for the performance of any service or charity connected therewith and includes the premises of the religious institution as well as the idols, if any, installed therein and any public charity associated with a festival or observance of a religious character, whether connected with a religious institutions or not, but does not include gifts or property made as personal gifts to the trustee or hereditary trustee or working trustee of such institution or to any service-holder or other employee thereof;
(14) "Religious institution" or "Institution" means an institution for the promotion of any religion or persuasion and includes a temple, math and an religious establishment or any place of religious worship or religious instruction whether or not apartment to such institution;
(l5) "Specific endowment" means any property or money endowed for the performance of any specific service or charity in a religious institution;
(16) "Temple" means a place, by whatever designation known, used as a place of public religious worship and dedicated to or for the benefit of or used as of right by a community or any section thereof as a place of public religious worship.
(17) "Trustee" means a person in whom either alone or in association with other persons the trust property is vested and includes a Manager;
(18) "Working trustee" means any person who, for the time being, either alone or in association with some other person or persons, administers the trust property of any public trust and includes the Manager of a public trust as well as -
(a) in the case of a math, the head of such math, and
(b) in the case of a public trust having its principal office or principal place of business outside the State of Rajasthan, the person in charge of the management of the property and administration of the public trust in that State;
(19) Words and Expressions used but not defined in this Act and defined in the Indian Trusts Act, 1882 (Central Act II of 1982), have the meanings respectively assigned to them in that Act.