Chapter VI ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT OF CHAR DHAM DEVASTHANAMS

(1) The matter of Dustoor/ rights prevailing presently payable to priest/ trustee/ Teerth Purohits/ Panda related Hak-Hakukdari shall remain as it is. (2) A Trustee of Char Dham Devasthanams covered under the Act, shall administer his/her office as per customs and usage of institutions and lawful directions which the CEO may give in respect thereof. (3) The Trustee /authorised agent shall scrutinise and bring to notice of CEO any omissions or wrongful entries in the registers prepared under section 17 or 18. Appeals against the decision of CEO taken under section 17 and18 shall lie to the Board.

The Trustee of Char Dham Devasthanams covered under the Act, shall furnish to the CEO such accounts, returns, reports or other information relating to the administration of the Devasthanams/temples in his/her charge, its funds, property or income or money connected therewith, or the appropriations thereof as the CEO may require and at such times and in such form as he/she may direct.

(1) The CEO or any other person authorised by him/her in this behalf, may with due regard to the religious practices and usages of the Char Dham and Devasthanams, inspect all moveable and immovable property belonging to the Devasthanams and all records, correspondence, plans, accounts and other documents for the purpose of satisfying himself/herself that the provisions of this Act and the rules made there under are duly carried out and it shall be the duty of the trustee or priest of such Devasthanams and all officers working under him/her, his/her agent and any person having concern in the administration thereof to afford all such assistance and facilities as may be necessary or reasonably required in regard to such inspection, and also to produce any such moveable property or document for inspection, as required. (2) For the purpose of inspection as aforesaid the inspecting authority shall, subject to the local practice, custom or usage may enter at any reasonable time the premises of Char Dham Devasthanams or any place of worship covered under the Act. (3) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to authorise any person to enter the premises or place referred to in sub section (2) or any part thereof unless such person professes Hindu religion or the religion to which the premises or place belongs.

All properties belonging to Char Dham Devasthanams to which this Act applies, on the date of commencement of this Act, that are in the possession or under the superintendence of the Government, Zila Panchayat, Zila Parishad, Municipality, property in the Board or any other local authority or in the possession or superintendence of any company, society, organisation, institutions or other person or any committee, superintendent appointed by the Government, shall, on the date on which the Board is or is deemed to have been constituted or members are or are deemed to have been appointed under this Act stand, transferred to the Board and all assets vesting in the Government, local authority or person aforesaid and all liabilities subsisting against such Movement, local authority or person on the said date shall, devolve on the Chardham and shall be maintained by the Board: Provided that the Board may further acquire land in or around the vicinity of the religious Devasthanam and other places as it would deem proper for its better development, in favour of the Chardham.

(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in any law for the time being in force, no transfer by exchange, sale, mortgage or in any other manner whatsoever, and no lease of any immovable property belonging to, or given or endowed for the purposes of Char Dham Devasthanams covered under the act shall be made unless it is sanctioned by the CEO after approval from the Board and any transfer made in contravention of this sub-section shall be void and inoperative. (2) In accordance to such sanction, the CEO may be subject to such conditions and directions as he/she may deem necessary regarding the utilisation of the amount raised by the transaction, the investment thereof and in the case of a mortgage may declare regarding discharge of the same within a reasonable period. (3) A copy of the order of the CEO under this section shall be communicated to the trustee and shall be published in such manner as may be prescribed. (4) The trustee may within three months from the date of receipt of a copy of the order or any person having interest may, within three months from the date of publication of the order, prefer an appeal to such authority and in the manner as may be prescribed by the Board, who shall decide the order on merit as the case maybe.

Notwithstanding anything contained in the Registration Act, 1908 (Act No 16 of 1908) the registering authority shall not accept registration of any deed of alienation of immovable property belonging to Char Dham Devasthanams covered under the act unless a certified copy of the order made under section 23 sanctioning such alienation is filed along with the deed.

If it comes to the knowledge of the CEO that any immovable property belonging to any Char Dham Devasthanams covered under the Act has been alienated in contravention of Section 23, then he/she shall refer the matter to Board and he/she shall initiate legal proceedings for the restoration of such property.

(1) The provisions contained in the Uttar Pradesh Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1972 (U.P. Act No. 22 of 1972) (as applicable to the State of Uttarakhand) or any other Act containing similar provisions, in respect of unauthorised occupation of any land or premises belonging to Char Dham Devasthanams covered under the Act and immovable property of Char Dhams, shall be in application as far as may be, as if it were the property of Government within the meaning of the Act. (2) The CEO under the Act mentioned above to remove the encroachment of the land/premises shall take action in accordance with the provisions of that Act.

(1) For the purpose of protection and development of the Char Dham Devasthanams, the Board shall recommend to the State Government to notify such area, in the vicinity of Devasthanams as Devasthanam areas. In areas thus notified, the Board shall be empowered to regulate proper maintenance of site and building and levy taxes with approval of State Government. (2) Subject to the directions given by the State Government, the Board may acquire any building or land through mutual negotiations, purchase, donation, transfer, lease, rent or otherwise. In addition it may also acquire any land, buildings in accordance with the provisions of law for the time being in force. (3) Where the CEO has the reason to believe that- (a) Any vicinity property belonging to Temples related to Char Dham Devasthanams covered under the Act is in danger of being wasted, damaged or improperly alienated by any trustee or any other person, or (b) The trustee or such persons threatens or intends to remove or dispose of the property, The CEO may make such order for the purpose of staying and preventing the wastage, damage, alienation, sale, removal or dispensation of such property as he may deems fit.