Amendment status not verified — confirm the current text below against the official source.
In this Part, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context,-- (a) "Board" means the Travancore Devaswom Board constituted under Chapter II of this Act in accordance with the Covenant; [(aa) "Hindu" means a person who is a Hindu by birth or by conversion and professes the Hindu religion:] [Provided that a Hindu member nominated or elected to the Board under section 4 shall make an oath before the Principal Secretary to the Government of Kerala, Department of Devaswom to the effect that he is professing Hindu religious rites and is a believer of God and temple worship, before he enters upon his office.] (b) "Hindu Religious Endowment" means-- (i) every Hindu temple or shrine or other religious endowment dedicated to, or used as of right by, the Hindu community or any section thereof; and (ii) every other Hindu endowment or foundation, by whatever local designation known, and property, endowments and offerings connected therewith, whether applied wholly to religious purposes or partly to religious and partly to charitable or other purposes, and every express or constructive trust by which property or money is vested in the hands of any person or persons by virtue of hereditary succession or otherwise for such purposes; but shall not include any Hindu religious institution belonging to and under the sole management of a single family: Provided that, where the management of a religious institution has passed into the hands of several branches by division among the members of the original family, the institution may nevertheless be considered as being in the management of a single family for the purpose of this Part. Explanation.-- The expression "hereditary succession" shall include succession to a "Guru" by a disciple by nomination or otherwise. (c) "Incorporated Devaswoms" means the Devaswoms mentioned in Schedule I, and "unincorporated Devaswoms" means those Devaswoms including Hindu Religious Endowments whether in or outside Travancore which were under the management of the Ruler of Travancore and which have separate accounts of income and expenditure and are separately dealt with; (d) "person interested" includes-- (i) in the case of temple, a person who is entitled to attend at or is in the habit of attending the performance of worship or service in the temple or who is entitled to partake or is in the habit of partaking in the benefit of the distribution of gifts thereat; (ii) in the case of a specific endowment or institution a person who is entitled to attend at or is in the habit of attending the performance of the service or charity, or who is entitled to partake or is in the habit of partaking in the benefit of the charity; (e) "Prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Part. Substituted by Act 9 of 1999. Substituted by ACT 5 OF 2007 Published in K.G.Ext. No. 694 dt. 12/04/2007 (w.e.f. 05/02/2007). Prior to the Substitution it read as "Provided that a Hindu member to be nominated or elected to the Board under Section 4 shall be a person who believes in God and temple worship and who shall make an oath before the Secretary of the Board to that effect in the form prescribed by the Government for the purpose before he enters upon his office;