JUDGMENT
Misra, C.J.
1. The petitioners are Swetamber Jains and have sought an appropriate writ for quashing annexure one which is a notification by the Special officer of the Hindu Religious Trusts Board in respect of the Swetamber Jain Religious Trusts in the State of Bihar. This relates to the preparation of the electoral roll for holding election under Section 8(2) (c) of the Bihar Hindu Religious Trusts Act. 1950. (hereinafter to be referred to as the Act). It contains a request to all the members of the Swetamber Jain sect, men and women of the age of 21 years or above, later on modified to majority by annexure two. to submit their names, age, father’s name and full address within thiry days of the notification. The petitioners have challenged the validity of this step for preparation of the electoral roll on several grounds such as vagueness in the meaning of the term “Shree Sangh” used in Section 8(2)(c) of the Act as also the requirement of 21 years of age or maioritv as a condition precedent for enrolment as a voter. Another grievance made is that the notification was published in Pradeep and Vishwamitra, two Hindi newspapers having circulation in Bihar only, whereas the Swetambar Jain sect in Bihar scarcely has sot sixteen thousand members out of sixteen lacs who are spread all over India but are to be found predominantly in Maharashtra. Guiarat and Raiasthan.
2. It is relevant to quote Section 8 of the Act which deals with the manner of the constitution of the Board concerned with supervision of the proper management of the trusts. Sub-section (1) of Section 8 of the Act provides for the manner of constitution of the Board for looking after the religious trusts of general Hindu community. It runs thus:
“8. President and members of the second and every subsequent Board and their term of office. (1) Of the members of the second and every subsequent Bihar State Board of Religious Trusts–
(a) seven shall be persons appointed by the State Government: Provided that, of the persons so appointed–
(i) one shall be a person who is. or has been, a member of the Bihar Civil Service (Executive or Judicial Branch) or a member of the Bihar Superior Judicial Service or the Indian Administrative Service or a lawyer of at least ten years’ standing, if no such person has been elected under Clause (c); and
(ii) two shall be sadhus;
(iii) four shall be persons elected in the prescribed manner by the trustees of religious trusts other than Jain Religious Trusts registered under this Act; and
(c) eight shall be persons elected in the prescribed manner by the Hindu members of the State Legislature and the Hindu members of the Parliament from the State of Bihar:
Provided that of the persons to be so elected, one shall be a Budhist, unless there is no Budhist candidate for such election.”
Sub-section (2) contains the provision in regard to the Swetamber Jains and runs thus:
“(2) Of the members of the second and every subsequent Bihar State Board of Swetamber Jain Religious Trusts-
(a) two shall be persons appointed by the State Government;
(b) four shall be persons elected in the prescribed manner by the trustees of the Swetamber Jain Religious Trusts registered under this Act; and
(c) five shall be persons elected in the prescribed manner by the Shree Sangh (an assembly of Swetamber Jains).”
Rule 4 of, the Bihar Swetamber Jain Religious Trusts Rules, 1955, framed under the Act, provides for the method of election of the members of the Board and Clause (c) of Rule 4 (2) specifically lays down the procedure for preparation of the electoral roll in respect of election of the members under Clause (c) of Sub-section (2) of Section 8 of the Act. Clause (c) of Rule 4 (2) runs thus:
“(c) The electoral roll in respect of election of the members under Clause (c) of Sub-section (2) of Section 8 shall be prepared in Hindi’ in Devanagri script by the President. The President shall publish a notice in at least two Hindi newspapers having circulation in the State, specifying the date, which shall not be less than 30 days from the date of publication of the notice, within which applications shall be received for enrolment of members in the electoral roll. No fee shall be charged for such applications and they may be presented in person to the office of the Board or sent by post.”
3. I have dealt with this point in C. W. J. C. No. 759 of 1969 (Pat) and held that so far as Shree Sangh (an assembly of Jains) is concerned, it must be held that the Bihar Legislature meant by this the Shree Sangh to be formed in Bihar only and not outside Bihar. It may be that the Swetamber Jains are in larger number residing in the three States mentioned above and a very small number reside in Bihar, and it may also be that some important shrines and places of pilgrimage of Swetamber Jains are to be found in Bihar at Pawapuri Raj-grih and Parasnath. The fact, however, remains that the Bihar Legislature which, under the Hindu Religious Trusts Act passed by it, has provided for the constitution of the Board to look after the proper management of these Trusts, can constitute a Trust only out of the Trustees in Bihar under Section 8 (2) and the Bihar Legislature which exists in Bihar cannot order an electorate to be formed of Shree Sanghs outside Bihar. The broad contention, therefore, based on the term ‘Shree Sangh’ in general must fail. In consequence, the further grievance that the notification for preparation of the electoral roll inviting adults belonging to this sect to get themselves enrolled as electors under Section 8 (2) (c) of the Act cannot be regarded as in any way invalid.
4. The only ground, however, on which 1 have come to the conclusion that Section 8 (2) (c) is unworkable is that no age-limit of voters is prescribed either in the Act or in any of the rules issued under Section 8 (2) of the Act. The petitioners’ grievance, therefore, that the Special Officer had no power to lay down the age-limit of 21 years or majority for a voter of the Swetamber Jain sect, before he could be regarded as qualified for enrolment, appears to be well-founded. It is true, no doubt, that the petitioners have alleged in the petition that the Shree Sangh (an assembly of Swetamber Jains) of any locality consists of all the adults, men and women of the community, but the word ‘adult’ is not clearly set out even in the petition. If the word ‘adult’ is to be taken as synonymous with the word ‘major’ under the Indian Majority Act, it will be only 18 years of age and not 21 years. But the difficulty is that it is not set out in the Act or in the rules. From this point of view, the notification (An-nexure 1) laying down the condition for enrolment that the applicant must be 21 years old or, at any rate, a major, will have to be struck down as invalid. Thus, Section 8 (2) (c), in so far as it does not speci-cify any age-limit of a member of the Shree Sangh in order to be qualified to be a voter and in so far as Rule 4 bears on this question of election but does not also provide for the minimum age of a voter, must be struck down as invalid. As it is, it is difficult to take any particular age as the minimum limit for qualifying as a voter. This is a situation which in an extreme case may extend to the limit of a minor, who may just be a small child, to be a voter, which cannot be taken to be the intention of the Legislature.
5. For the reasons stated above, the application must succeed and the notification Annexure 1 must be quashed. It is open to the State Government to amend Section 8 (2) (c) of the Act suitably so as to define its scope preferably to avoid ambiguity to make it confined to Bihar or as the case may be, and also to lay down the age-limit. Rule 4 may also provide for enrolment not only of the various Shree Sanghs but also for enrolment of the members of a local Swetamber Jain sect men and women, who have attained the requisite age to be sent out and who will be entitled to cast their votes in the election of their representatives under Section 8 (2) (c) of the Act.
K.B.N. Singh, J.
6. I agree.