In the case of a private trust, the court has the discretion to appoint trustees and to frame a scheme for the administration of the trust. The court will give preference to the founder's family in the appointment of trustees, but this is not a matter of right for the relative concerned.

RAMASWAMI, J. :- This is an appeal preferred against the decree and judgment of the learned Subordinate Judge of Tanjore in O. S. No. 65 of 1948.

2. The facts are :- One Ibrahim Sahib constructed a mosque out of his private property on a site purchased by him in the East Rampart Street, Tanjore. He also constructed a "Chinna Alla Koil" and a Musafar Khana and founded a Thaikkal with the tomb of a saint at Pasupathikoil, Papanasam taluk. On 11-3-1889 and 11-7-1914 this Ibrahim Sahib made a trust deed and a will which have been analysed by a Bench of this Court consisting of King and Krishnaswami Ayyangar, JJ., in Mohideen Bivi v. Kaboor Sahib, A. S. No. 417 of 1933 (Mad) (A).

3. This will has been described by Krishnaswami Ayyangar, J., as an ill-drafted document expressing the intention of the testator in somewhat crude language and thereby affording material for most of the contentions relating to this will. The learned Judge held that from a careful reading of the various clauses there was no doubt that the testator intended the whole of his property to be devoted to the charitable purposes named by him, that the management of the property was to be with the Ibrahim Sahib during his lifetime and thereafter it was to be with Ibrahim Sahibs cousin Mahomed Hussain Sahib who died in 1923 and his brother-in-law Gaffoor Sahib, to whom this Ibrahim Sahib seems to have been greatly attached, under the orders of his childless second wife Habibsa Bivi.

Provision is also made for the residence and support of Gaffoor Sahib, the brother-in-law, and Mahomed Hussain Sahib, the cousin, and for the maintenance expenses of his junior paternal uncles daughter-in-law Jira Bibi. In regard to Gaffoor Sahib he directed that his wife Habibsa Bivi should select a bride and celebrate the marriage and in case he wanted to live apart, to purchase for him a house for Rs. 300 and give him besides by way of maintenance 3 kalams of paddy per month. Similar provision was also made in favour of Mahomed Hussain Sahib. For Jira Bivi he provided two kalams of paddy for maintenance and Rs. 2/- for expenses in cash per month.

In regard to his wife he apparently thought that the managers should provide for his wife and merely left an injunction that they should conduct themselves agreeably to her good views. In regard to both Mahomed Hussain Sahib and Gaffoor Sahib, this Ibrahim Sahib has stated that they shall as his Aurasa sons conduct the said charities founded by him and that they shall take the same amount of interest for the purpose of prudent and effective management of the properties and that is all. Thus, the will in short devoted the income to the performance of the charities and provision for these four persons. The managers were prohibited from alienating the properties in any manner whatsoever.

4. This Ibrahim Sahib died in 1916 and disputes arose between his wife Habibsa Bivi and her brother Gaffoor Sahib and Mahomed Hussain Sahib, the other Mutawalli.

5. O. S. 213 of 1920 was filed by this Habibsa Bivi in the District Munsifs Court, Tiruvaiyaru, asking for a declaration that she was the sole trustee and that she had dismissed the two Mutawallis. This Habibsa Bivi got a declaration to that effect. She died in 1923. By this time the other trustees were dead and Gaffoor Sahib had arrogated himself as the sole trustee and started making alienations and misappropriating large funds which ought to have been devoted to the performance of the charities. Mahomed Hussains wife and children filed O. S. 53 of 1932 in the Sub Court, Tanjore, for recovery of possession of the endowments.

But during the course of the trial they withdrew their claim to the Mutawalliship as Gaffoor claimed that under the original appointment of Mutawalliship he had become solely entitled to that office by reason of the death of Mahomed Hussain Sahib. The Court by its judgment dated 23-9-1933 held that the trusts were absolute subject to payment of allowances mentioned therein and