After 35 Years, Gujarat High Court Rejects Baroda Royal Family's Claim Over Property Belonging To Temple Trust

The Gujarat High Court has upheld a 35-year-old Vadodara Court order dismissing a plea filed by the royal family of the erstwhile State of Baroda challenging orders passed by the charity commissioner's office which had declared that a parcel of land in Vadodara belongs to Shri Yavteshwar Mahadev Temple Trust. [2026 LiveLaw (Guj) 169]

The court was hearing a batch of appeals challenging a 1991 judgment of the Joint District Judge, Vadodara which had dismissed five applications filed by the respective appellants – original petitioners including the then Maharaja of Baroda as well as subsequent buyers of the land, confirming the 1985 judgment of the Joint Charity Commissioner, Baroda.

The Joint Charity Commissioner had confirmed a 1979 judgment of Assistant Charity Commissioner, Baroda, in Change Application No. 550 of 1971.

The Assistant Charity Commissioner had while allowing the Collector's plea ordered that the property bearing Survey No. 9, admeasuring 29 vigas and 3 vasa, and Survey No. 10, admeasuring 3 viga and 69 vasa (“the disputed land”), which is forming part of City Survey No. 8/2, Survey No. 1/A admeasuring 707 acre 32 guntha belongs to Shri Yavteshwar Mahadev Trust.

The Assistant Charity Commissioner further directed that the disputed land be entered in the Public Trust Register as property of Shri Yavteshwar Mahadev Trust, bearing Registration Number A-1701-Baroda.

Perusing the record, Justice JC Doshi in his 85-page judgment said:

"It is undisputed that the land of Survey No. 10 has since the very beginning consistently remained in the name of Shri Yavteshwar Mahadev Trust until the year 1956, when the name of His Highness the Maharaja was mutated... Though the land was not named as Shri Yavteshwar Mahadev Trust property, it was land given by the then Maharaja (HH Shri Govindrao) for the maintenance of Shri Yavteshwar Mahadev Trust... Noticeably, this parcel of land never transferred back as private property of HH Maharaja of State of Baroda."

Referring to the records and the communication issued by the Executive Engineer, Baroda R & B Division, The court said the communication nowhere stated that the land of Survey No. 9 or Survey No. 10 belongs to and is owned by the Maharaja of the State of Baroda.

The court said that the letter from the office of Executive Engineer pertains to Survey No. 1/61, being the Hirabagh Stud Farm. However, this letter has been either misread or misconceived, possibly deliberately, so as to mutate the land belonging to Yavteshwar Mahadev in the name of the Maharaja, the court said.

The court said that it appeared that once the land belonging to Yavteshwar Mahadev was mutated in the name of the Maharaja "no sooner, under mortal greed, the lands were divided into plots and some portions thereof were sold to third parties".

"Perhaps, it was calculated move. HH Maharaja of State of Baroda , who owned vast number of land in city of Baroda, upon mutation of the revenue entry, in the year 1956, immediately sold some portion of the land with a view to create illusion of bona fide purchaser," the court said. 

The court observed that Yavteshwar Mahadev Temple Temple, built prior to Laxmi Vilas Palace, even at that time, had unique identity, but in merger agreement or in list of inventory, there was not even a whisper in regards to the Yavteshwar Mahadev Temple or property attached with it. 

Before parting the court observed:

"Before parting with the order, let me observe that present First Appeals are glaring example of unscrupulous desire of litigant to put a case in endless litigation and to pursue the Court proceedings to keep the deity's property under cloud forever. Such persistence and prolonged litigation is not only strained judicial resource, but also consumed court's precious time. The deity i.e. Yavteshwar Mahadev has been kept in the limitless litigation from claiming legitimacy of the immovable property vested in Yavteshwar Mahadev by the then Maharaja of the Baroda State, HH Shri Govindrao Gaekwad. Such an attempt has burdened this Court since 1991 and such an attempt directly intervened with the general administration of justice and hampered the court's precious time". 

Background

The Collector, Vadodara, in his capacity as ex officio Administrator and Trustee of Shri Yavteshwar Mahadev Temple Trust  had filed a change application under Section 22A r/w Section 79(1) Gujarat Public Trust Act for a declaration that the disputed land belongs to the Trust properties of Shri Yavteshwar Mahadev Trust.

It was claimed that the Trust had been registered under the Act in the office of the Assistant Charity Commissioner in 1952. The affairs and management of the Trust are managed by the Government through the Collector, Baroda, as ex officio Trustee and Administrator of the said Trust. The object of the Trust is to maintain the temple and manage the worship. 

Shri Yavteshwar Mahadev Temple, according to the claim of the Collector, is situated on the immovable property of City Survey No.8/2, Survey No.1/A admeasuring 707 acres 32 gunthas. The disputed land belonged to and was owned by Shri Yavteshwar Mahadev Temple until 1956, where the name of Shri Yavteshwar Mahadev Temple was shown as occupant in the City Survey record.

However, in 1956, the name of the then Maharaja F.P. Gaekwad  was entered in the occupant column of the entire land. The City Survey authority mutated the entire land in the name of the then Maharaja, upon receipt of a letter from the Executive Engineer

upon receipt of letter received from the Executive Engineer, R & B., Vadodara.

The Collector claimed that the City Survey authority, without receiving a notice under Section 135D of the Gujarat Land Revenue Code and in violation of the principles of natural justice, without affording any opportunity of hearing, mutated the name of the Maharaja in the entire piece of land, thereby removing the name of Shri Yavteshwar Mahadev Temple. 

Meanwhile the Maharaja of the erstwhile State of Baroda claimed that the disputed land is a private property of the erstwhile ruler of the State of Baroda and forms part and parcel of the Laxmi Vilas Palace, the title and possession of which has been retained by the Maharaja of Baroda pursuant to the Accession Agreement between the Union of India and the erstwhile State of Baroda.

It was further contended that the City Survey authority rightly exercised the power to mutate the said property in the name of the Maharaja and that this cannot be questioned on the ground that notices were not issued under Section 135D of the Land Revenue Code, or on the ground of violation of natural justice.

It was further contended that the Collector, as ex officio Administrator and Trustee of Shri Yavteshwar Mahadev Trust, slept over his rights for years together and did not take care to show the disputed land as a Trust property at the time of registration in 1952 or even subsequently, when the disputed land was entered in the revenue record in the name of the Maharaja. Thus the action initiated by the Collector under Section 22A r/w Section 79(1) of the Act is hopelessly barred by limitation.

It was contended that Shri Yavteshwar Mahadev Trust was never the owner of the disputed land. The Maharaja further claimed that he has been in possession of the disputed land since the time of his predecessors as rulers of the Baroda State, and that pursuant to the execution of the Accession Agreement with the Union of India at the time of merger, and he had established title and possession over the disputed land.

Finding the appeals without merit the court dismissed the same. 

Case title: KISHANJI MAGANJI THAKORE & ORS.  v/s  COLLECTOR OF BARODA & ORS. and batch

R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 1611 of 1991

Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (Guj) 169

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