JUDGMENT :

R. SUBBIAH, J.

Prayer: Original Side Appeal No. 250 of 2019 filed under Order 36 Rule 9 of the Original Side Rules of this Court, read with Clause 15 of the Letters Patent, against the fair and decretal order dated 03.08.2018 in A. No. 60 of 2018 in C.S. No. 908 of 2017 on the file of this Court.

Original Side Appeal No. 115 of 2019 filed under Order 36 Rule 2 of the Original Side Rules of this Court, read with Clause 15 of the Letters Patent, against the fair and decretal order dated 03.08.2018 in A. No. 60 of 2018 in A. No. 6404 of 2017 in C.S. No. 908 of 2017 on the file of this Court.

1. Both these Original Side Appeals are filed against the order dated 23.10.2017 passed in Application No. 6404 of 2017, whereby the learned single Judge granted leave to sue the defendants under Section 92 of the Code of Civil Procedure (in short ‘Code’) for formulating a Scheme in respect of the Trusts and also for other reliefs. On notice, the defendants 7 and 10 have filed A. No. 60 of 2018 to revoke the leave granted to the plaintiffs. The learned single Judge dismissed the application seeking leave to sue. Aggrieved by the same, the defendants 7 and 10 in the suit have filed O.S.A. No. 115 of 2019. O.S.A. No. 250 of 2019 has been filed by the third parties, who are the Trustees of the second defendant-Trust, after obtaining leave from this Court.

2. For the purpose of convenience, the parties will be referred as per their ranking in the suit, as plaintiffs and defendants.

3. Since the issue involved in both these appeals is one and the same, they are disposed of by this common judgment.

4. To deal with the contentions raised by the respective parties in the application to revoke the leave granted to sue, at the outset, it would be appropriate to refer the relevant averments made in the plaint, as follows:

(a) The first plaintiff-Jeppiaar Sheela is one of the Trustees of the first defendant-Trust, namely Jeppiaar Educational Trust and she was inducted, vide Trust Deed, dated 04.05.1987 into the Trust. She continued to be a Trustee and took part in the daily management of the Trust and ancillary activities. Hence, she is an interested person in relation to the Trust. The second and third plaintiffs, namely A. Karol Udaya Baskar and Nisha Mol Bronson have undergone their education in the institutions of the Trusts, namely Jeppiaar Educational Trust and Sathyabama Educational Trust and had graduated from there in the year 2008 and 2012 respectively. The plaintiffs 2 and 3, even after graduating, had returned to the Trusts in order to help the philanthropic activities performed by the Managing Trustee. Being graduates of the institutions run by the first defendant-Trust, the plaintiffs 2 and 3 are keenly interested in the manner in which the Trusts are administered. Hence, according to them, they are persons interested in the management of the Trusts.

(b) Dr. Jeppiaar, who was an educationalist and philanthropist, founded the first defendant-Trust, namely Jeppiaar Educational Trust. The first defendant-Trust is a public charitable educational Trust constituted under a Deed of Trust, dated 04.05.1987 by its Founder Dr. Jeppiaar and the same was registered. Under a Deed of Trust, dated 16.04.2001, the Trustees of the first defendant-Trust decided to declare Sathyabama Engineering College to be upgraded as a Deemed University. Therefore, in terms of the UGC Act and with the approval of the Board of Trustees of the first defendant-Trust, the said College was constituted as a separate Trust under the name “Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology.” Thereafter, a Supplemental Trust Deed, dated 07.03.2008 was executed, wherein it was stated that in terms of the UGC Act, guidelines and with the approval of the Board of Trustees of the first defendant-Trust, Sathyabama Engineering College/ Institution had been constituted as a separate Trust. The name of the Trust was changed from Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology to that of Sath