Just in case there weren't enough schemes to scam on the exchange; but, the jolly part is that the Indian Income Tax Department seems to have granted Permanent Account Numbers to these dieties. Also, do not miss the distinction between private [trust] god and public god :-)
http://www.financialexpress.com/news/no-demat-accounts-for-hindu-gods-hc/647531/ # *No demat accounts for Hindu gods: HC* Agencies Posted online: 2010-07-16 17:46:34+05:30 *Mumbai*Observing that deities should remain in temples and not in stock markets, the Bombay High Court today rejected a petition seeking permission to open demat accounts in the names of Hindu Gods. "Trading in shares on the stock market requires certain skills and expertise and to expect this from deities would not be proper," observed Justices P B Majumdar and Rajendra Sawant while disposing of the petition filed by a religious trust. The trust had filed a petition challenging the decision of National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL) to refuse it permission for opening demat accounts in the names of five Hindu deities. "When the Income Tax department has issued PAN cards to these five deities, why should not NSDL allow opening of demat accounts in their names?" the trust asked. The deities of the Sangli-based trust "Ganpati Panchayatam Sansthan" are Lord Ganesh, Chintamaneshwardev, Chintamaneshwaridevi, Suryanarayandev and Laxminarayandev. The trust, belonging to the Patwardhan family, the erstwhile royals of Sangli, had obtained PAN cards in the names of deities in 2008. Recently, the trust applied for opening demat accounts in the names of these deities through a private bank but the request was turned down by NSDL. The trust contended in the petition that various high courts and the Supreme Court had given decisions in different cases allowing Hindu deities to acquire property. The counsel for the trust Uday Varunjkar argued that shares, debentures and mutual funds can also be regarded as a property. The deities have a right to acquire property, including shares and debentures and this is in keeping with various judgements of high courts and the Supreme Court. S Ganesh, a senior officer of NSDL, filed an affidavit saying only deities of registered public trusts can acquire property. The Sangli-based trust was a private religious body, he said and contended that private trusts which were not registered under the Bombay Public Trusts Act could not acquire property in the name of religious deities. The private trusts can own or acquire property, including shares and debentures, in the names of trustees but not in the name of god, the NSDL official submitted.
