(1) The Commissioner, the Deputy Commissioner or the Assistant Commissioner or any other Officer generally or specifically empowered by the State Government in this behalf shall have the power;
(a) to enter upon and inspect or cause to be entered upon and inspected any property belonging to a Hindu Religious Institution :
(b) to call for any extract from or inspect any proceedings of any Hindu Religious Institution and any books of account in the possession of or under the control of the Chairman, Manager, Executive Officer or any other person managing the affairs of such institution ;
(c) to call for any return, statement, account or report which he may think fit, from any person connected with a Hindu Religious institution ;
Provided that in entering upon any property belonging to a religious institution, the officers making the entry and inspection shall not enter without first giving reasonable notice to the Chairman, Manager, Executive Officer or other person and shall not conduct himself without due regard to the religious practice, custom or usage of the Institution.
(2) If, on inspection or examination of the books of accounts or of a report called under sub-section (1), any act or omission on the part of the Chairman, Manager, Executive Officer or any other person connected with the institution is found resulting in loss to the institution, the Commissioner, the Deputy Commissioner or the Assistant Commissioner, as the case may be, shall require such person to submit an explanation within such time, as he thinks fit.
(3) If, upon consideration of the books of accounts or of a report called for under sub-section (1) and the explanation if any submitted under sub-section (2) and after holding an enquiry in the prescribed manner, the Commissioner, the Deputy Commissioner or the Assistant Commissioner is satisfied that any person connected with the Hindu Religious Institution has been guilty of gross negligence, breach of trust or misconduct which has resulted in loss to the Hindu religious Institution, he shall record a finding accordingly.
(4) If the finding is by the Assistant Commissioner he shall submit it to the Deputy Commissioner who shall forward it to the Commissioner with his remarks, and if the finding is by the Deputy Commissioner he shall submit it to the Commissioner.
(5) The Commissioner, shall after examining the records of the Deputy Commissioner or the Assistant Commissioner or both and after giving an opportunity to the person concerned and holding such further enquiry as he thinks fit, determine;
(a) the amount of loss caused to the Hindu Religious Institution;
(b) whether such loss was due to any gross negligence, breach of trust, misapplication or misconduct on the part of any person.
(c) whether the Chairman, Manager, Executive Officer or any other person was responsible for such loss;
(d) the amount which the Chairman, Manager or the Executive Officer or any other person is liable to pay to the Hindu Religious Institution for such loss.
(6) On such determination under sub-section (5) that any person is liable to pay to the Hindu Religious Institution any amount for the loss caused to the institution, the Commissioner may direct that the amount shall be surcharged on such person.
(7) The Deputy Commissioner of the District in which any property of the Chairman or other person from whom an amount is recoverable by way of surcharge is situated shall on requisition made by the Assistant Commissioner, recover such amount as if it were an arrears of land revenue and pay the same to the Notified Institution concerned.
(8) If the surcharge is against the Executive Officer, it shall be recovered out of his salary and other amounts payable to him, as may be ordered by the authority.