70-year Narsinhji Temple not private property: HC

The Gujarat High Court has ended a seven-decade legal battle over Shri Narsinhji Temple in Dhaman village, Navsari district, ruling that the temple and its properties constitute a public trust.
The legal struggle began in 1952 when devotees challenged Mahant Dharamdas’s claim that the temple deity was private property and its assets belonged to him personally. The Charity Commissioner ruled in favour of the devotees, but the dispute wound through courts for decades. Justice JC Doshi, in a 155-page judgment, dismissed three appeals by the Mahant’s descendants, reaffirming a 1977 division bench ruling that had settled the temple’s public status. The decision became final after a related SC petition was withdrawn.

Court’s ruling
The court held that a Mahant is only a caretaker or priest with no ownership rights over the deity’s property. Offerings were meant for the temple, not the Mahant’s family. The court also called the prolonged litigation an abuse of the judicial process, designed to retain unlawful control over temple assets. All pending appeals now stand dismissed.