Saji Koduvath, Advocate, Kottayam.

Charitable and Religious Trusts Act, 1920 – Object

The object of the Act is shown to be ‘to provide more effectual control over the administration of Charitable and Religious Trusts’; and it is made to provide facilities for the obtaining of information regarding trusts created for public purposes of a charitable or religious nature, and to enable the trustees of such trusts to obtain the directions of a Court on certain matters, and to make special provision for the payment of the expenditure incurred in certain suits against the trustees of such trusts’.

Provisions as regards opinion, advice or direction of the Court.

Following are the important provisions of the Act as regards opinion, advice or direction of the Court.

• “Sec. 2. Interpretation. — In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context, ‘the Court’ means the Court of the District Judge or any other Court empowered in that behalf by the State Government and includes the High Court in the exercise of its ordinary original civil jurisdiction.
• Sec. 7. Powers of trustee to apply for directions.—
• .(1) Save as hereinafter provided in this Act, any trustee of an express or constructive trust created or existing for public purpose of a charitable or religious nature may apply by petition to the Court, within the local limits of whose jurisdiction any substantial part of the subject-matter of the trust is situate, for the opinion, advice or direction of the Court on any question affecting the management or administration of the trust property, and the Court shall give its opinion, advice or direction, as the case may be, thereon:
• Provided that the Court shall not be bound to give such opinion, advice or direction on any question which it considers to be a question not proper for summary disposal.
• (2) The Court on a petition under sub-section (1), may either give its opinion, advice or direction hereon forthwith, or fix a date for the hearing of the petition, and may direct a copy thereof, together with notice of the date so fixed, to be served on such of the person interested in the trust, or to be published for information in such manner, as it thinks fit.
• (3) On any date fixed under sub-section (2) or on any subsequent date to which the hearing may be adjourned, the Court, before giving any opinion, advice or direction, shall afford a reasonable opportunity of being heard to all persons appearing in connection with the petition.
• (4) A trustee stating in good faith the facts of any matter relating to the trust in a petition under sub-section (1), and acting upon the opinion, advice or direction of the Court given thereon, shall be deemed, as far as his own responsibility is concerned, to have discharged his duty as such trustee in the matter in respect of which the petition was made.
• Sec. 9. Savings.— No petition under the foregoing provisions of this Act in relation to any trust shall be entertained in any of the following circumstances, namely:—
• .(a) if a suit instituted in accordance with the provisions of section 92 of the Code of Civil Procedure 1908 (5 of 1908), is pending in respect of the trust in question;
• (b) if the trust property is vested in the Treasurer of Charitable Endowments, the Administrator General, the Official Trustee, or any Society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 (21 of 1860); or
• (c) if a scheme for the administration of the trust property has been settled or approved by any Court of competent jurisdiction, or by any other authority acting under the provisions of any enactment.
• Sec. 12. Barring of appeals.— No appeal shall lie from any order passed or against any opinion, advice or direction given under this Act.”

The purport of the Act can be analysed as under:

• Court gives opinion, advice or direction to trustees alone.
• The advice or direction is given only on any question affecting the management or administration of the trust property.
• It is on the principle – Court is Guardian or Protector of All Public Trusts.
• It envisages a ‘summary disposal’ (No need to invite pleads, frame issues, take evidence etc.).
• Court exercises a discretionary jurisdiction in this matter.
• Court is not bound to give opinion if the question not susceptible to a summary disposal.
• The opinion is not given in matters which are seriously disputed or contested.
• There will not be adjudication on questions of fact or law.
• Operation of this section is subject to Sections 9 and 12 (given above).

Court is Protector of All Public Trusts – Cannot Refuse Opinion

Referring Sec. 7 of the  Charitable and Religious Trusts Act, 1920, it is observed in Sennimalai Swamy Madam Trust, Palani v. NIL, 1999-3 CTC 390, as under:

• “10. In view of these decisions, it has to be held that petitioner is competent to file an application before lower court seeking opinion. Unless Court finds that the opinion cannot be given since there are complicated facts or question of law is to be decided, it may not be proper on its part to refuse to give opinion.  After all, Court is guardian or Protector of all public trusts and it cannot refuse to give its opinion, when the same is sought for by a Trustee.” (Avoch Thevar v. Chummar, AIR 1957 Ker 171, In Re Birla Jankalyan Trust, AIR 1971 Cal. 290, In Re Dhanalat, AIR 1975 Cal. 67, referred to)

Courts desist if Complicated Facts or Question of Law

In Avoch Thevar v. Chummar, AIR 1957 Ker 171, it is observed that serious questions of res judicata, estoppel, good faith etc. could not be adjudicated under Sec. 7 of the  Charitable and Religious Trusts Act, 1920. It is said as under:

• “6. …. “The Court under the section exercises what might be called its consultative jurisdiction, giving guidance to the trustee. The court is not, however, to grant sanction merely because it is applied for. The limitation is that the court will refuse to consider the matter if in its opinion the question is one not capable of summary disposal e.g. if it is one of the detail or difficulty. In any event the court will consider judicially the matters placed before it before disposing of the matter.”

This Kerala decision is followed in Hasan Bin Mubarak v. Chief Judge, City Civil Court, Hyderabad AIR 1999 AP 11, observing as under:

• “Section 34 of the Act contemplates only a summary disposal on non-controversial issues. The mental condition of a person being an important personal problem, the Court cannot dispose of the same in a summary manner. What the Court below has done was to examine 3rd respondent, who is alleged to be an insane person and give the opinion on the basis of her statement. Though Ex.R-1, certificate, alleged to have been given by a psychiatrist, was marked, the Court made no effort to examine the said doctor. Obviously, this could not have been done because the matter has to be disposed of in a summary manner. Thus, it is evident that the advice that was sought for by the trustee required a determination on contentious facts and the jurisdiction of the Court under section 34 being only in the nature of giving guidelines or directions without entering into the merits, the application ought not to have been entertained by the Court. The trustee might have got a valid and satisfactory opinion had he approached a qualified medical man or the Court in a properly instituted suit.
• 23. In Avoch Thevar case (supra) following the decision in Armugan Chetty vs. Raja Jagaveera ILR 28 Madras 444, it was clearly held that while providing the trustees a right to apply to the Court for opinion to the Management and the Members, Section 34 embodied at the same time, a limitation governing the questions to be asked viz. that there should not be hypothetical and any questions of details or difficulty or importance, not proper in the opinion of the Court for summary disposal……” (quoted in Ashok Kumar Kapur VS Ashok Khanna, AIR 2007 SC  6; 2007-5 SCC 189).

Avoch Thevar v. Chummar, AIR 1957 Ker 171, is followed in P. D. Jaiswal v. Dwarikadhish Temple Trust, 2006 2 ADJ 680; 2006 3 AllLR 21; 2006 3 AWC 2823 saying as under:

• “39. The last strand of Mr. Ravi Kant’s arguments was a Kerala Division Bench decision given in the case of Avoch Thevar v. Chummar, A.I.R. 1957 Ker 171, which was delivered for the Court by Hon’ble Mr. Justice Varadaraja lyengar. With the greatest of respect, it is a beautiful learned judgment which should be read by any reader of this judgment and we do not set out the materials collected therein simply because we cannot do it better or in a briefer way. We respectfully referred the reader to paragraph-6, 7, 8 and 9 of the said judgment.
• 40. Following the said judgment and the authorities quoted there, which are fully persuasive in our respectful opinion, we must opine that a decision under Section 7 of the 1920 Act is not to be given at all by the District Court in matters which are seriously disputed or contested, or which required difficult decisions on questions of fact or law,”