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2023 Supreme(Online)(MAD) 16382
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS Reserved on Delivered on 04.09.2023 13.09.2023 CORAM:
THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE R.SUBRAMANIAN and THE HONOURABLE MRS.JUSTICE R.KALAIMATHI Original Side Appeal Nos.288, 267 & 440/11 and 254 of 2012, Cross Objection No.2 of 2012 in OSA No.288 of 2011 and connected Miscellaneous Petitions OSA No.288 of 2011
1. R.Ramadoss
2. A.Logiah
3. M.Nithyanandam
4. K.Karthikaya Venkatachalapathi ... Appellants/Plaintiffs Versus
1. Sriram Educational Trust, Rep. by its Chairman, No.18, Evening Bazaar Road, Chennai 600 003.
2. Mrs.Kasthuri Parthasarathy
3. M.D.Rajkumar
4. B.Audhikesavalu .. Respondents 1 to 3/Defendants 1,3 & 4 R4 impleaded as respondent vide order of Court dated 13.08.2014 made in MP No.2/14 in OSA No.288 of 2011 PRAYER: Original Side Appeal is filed under Order XXXVI Rule 1 of the Original Side Rules read with Clause 15 of the Letters Patent, to set aside the Judgment and decree dated 28.07.2011 made in C.S.No.1047 of
2010 and thereby fill up the vacancies in the Board of Trust.
For Appellant : Mr.R.Parthasarathy, Senior Counsel for M/s.K.C.Krishnamurthy For Respondents : Mr.K.J.Parthasarathy, for R1 Mr. S.R.Rajagopal, Senior Counsel for Mr.V.Anilkumar, for R2 Mr.T.V.Ramanujun, Senior Counsel for Mr.C.Jagadish, for R3 Mr.J.Thilagaraj, for R4 OSA No.267 of 2011 Mrs.Kasthuri Parthasarathy ... Appellant Versus
1. Sriram Educational Trust, Rep. by its Chairman, No.18, Evening Bazaar Road, Chennai 600 003. 2. M.D.Rajkumar
3. R.Ramadoss
4. A.Logiah
5. M.Nithyanandam
6. K.Karthikeya Venkatachalapathi .. Respondents PRAYER: Original Side Appeal is filed under Order XXXVI Rule 1 of the Original Side Rules read with Clause 15 of the Letters Patent, to set aside the Judgment and decree dated 28.07.2011 made in C.S.No.1047 of 2010 for framing the Scheme, substituting the Board of Trustees and appoint the appellant's son as a Trustee and thereby filling up the vacancies in the Board of Trust.
For Appellant : Mr. S.R.Rajagopal, Senior Counsel for Mr.V.Anilkumar For Respondents : Mr.K.J.Parthasarathy, for R1 Mr.T.V.Ramanujun, Senior Counsel for Mr.C.Jagadish, for R2 Mr.R.Parthasarathy, Senior Counsel for M/s.K.C.Krishnamurthy, for RR3 to 6 OSA No.440 of 2011 V.Ellammal ... Appellant/Third Party Versus
1. Sriram Educational Trust, Rep. by its Chairman, No.18, Evening Bazaar Road, Chennai 600 003.
2. Mrs.Kasthuri Parthasarathy
3. M.D.Rajkumar
4. R.Ramadoss
5. A.Logiah
6. M.Nithyanandam
7. K.Karthikeya Venkatachalapathi .. Respondents PRAYER: Original Side Appeal is filed under Order XXXVI Rule 1 of the Original Side Rules read with Clause 15 of the Letters Patent, to set aside the Judgment and decree dated 28.07.2011 made in C.S.No.1047 of 2010 for framing the Scheme, substituting the Board of Trustees and permit the appellant to continue as permanent trustee and thereby fill up the vacancies in the Board of Trust.
For Appellant : Mr.C.P.R.Kamaraj For Respondents : Mr.K.J.Parthasarathy, for R1 Mr. S.R.Rajagopal, Senior Counsel for Mr.V.Anilkumar, for R2 Mr.T.V.Ramanujun, Senior Counsel for Mr.C.Jagadish, for R3 Mr.R.Parthasarathy, Senior Counsel for M/s.K.C.Krishnamurthy, for RR4 to 7 OSA No.254 of 2012
1. R.Vasu
2. O.V.Krishnamurthy
3. R.Murali ... Appellants/3rd Parties Versus
1. R.Ramadoss
2. A.Logiah
3. M.Nithyanandam
4. K.Karthikeya Venkatachalapathi
5. Sriram Educational Trust, Rep. by its Chairman, No.18, Evening Bazaar Road, Chennai 600 003.
6. M.E.Devarajan (since died) 7. Mrs.Kasthuri Parthasarathy
8. M.D.Rajkumar .. Respondents PRAYER: Original Side Appeal is filed under Order XXXVI Rule 1 of the Original Side Rules read with Clause 15 of the Letters Patent, to set aside the Judgment and decree dated 28.07.2011 passed in C.S.No.1047 of 2010 .
For Appellant : Mr.R.Selvakumar For Respondents :Mr.R.Parthasarathy, Senior Counsel for M/s.K.C.Krishnamurthy, for RR1 to 4 Mr.K.J.Parthasarathy, for R5 Mr. S.R.Rajagopal, Senior Counsel for Mr.V.Anilkumar, for R7 Mr.T.V.Ramanujun, Senior Counsel for Mr.C.Jagadish, for R8 R6 – Died
1. M.D.Rajkumar ... Cross Objector Versus
1. R.Ramadoss
2. A.Logiah
3. M.Nithyanandam
4. K.Karthikeya Venkatachalapathi
5. Sriram Educational Trust, Rep. by its Chairman, No.18, Evening Bazaar Road, Chennai 600 003.
6. Mrs.Kasthuri Parthasarathy .... Respondents PRAYER: The Cross Objection is filed under Order XLI Rule 22 of the Code of Civil Procedure, the Cross Objector prays for modification and framing of the scheme decree.
For Cross Objector : Mr.T.V.Ramanujun, Senior Counsel for Mr.C.Jagadish For Respondents : Mr.R.Parthasarathy, Senior Counsel for M/s.K.C.Krishnamurthy, for RR1 to 4 Mr.K.J.Parthasarathy, for R5 Mr. S.R.Rajagopal, Senior Counsel for Mr.V.Anilkumar, for R6
C O M M O N J U D G M E N T
(Judgment of the Court was delivered by R.SUBRAMANIAN, J.)
Challenge in all these Appeals is to the Scheme settled by this Court in exercise of the powers under Section 92 of the Code of Civil Procedure for a Public Charitable Trust created by an individual belonging to Telugu Linguistic Minority for the benefit of the said Minority Community.
2. The Trust was established by a Deed of Declaration of Trust dated 20.10.1983 executed by one Mr.B.Audhikesavalu, Son of Bojji Naidu for establishing Educational Institutions including Colleges (Medical and Engineering), Polytechnics and Research Institutions with the sole object of catering to the benefit of the Telugu Linguistic Minority people living in Tamil Nadu. He appointed three persons to be the first permanent Trustees. They are M.A.Ehirajulu Naidu, Son of Abbaya Naidu, M.E.Devarajan, Son of M.A.Ehirajulu Naidu and one L.A.Parthasarathy, Son of Ayyavoo Naidu, first of the Trustees viz.
M.A.Ehirajulu Naidu was a leading business man.
3. The said Deed also prescribed the total number of permanent Trustees at a minimum of three and a maximum of nine. The Author also vested the power of nominating the remaining six Trustees with the three permanent Trustees appointed by him. There are other clauses in the Deed which contain several directions regarding the qualification of Trustees, disqualifications and other guidelines for day to day administration of the Trust. By passage of time, as is the case in several Educational Trusts, the affairs of this Trust also got mired into controversies which led to filing of several cases in this Court. At one point of time, this Court had to step in, remove the existing Trustees and appoint an Interim Committee to manage the Trust. There also several objections were raised, since some of the members of the Interim Committee did not belong to the Minority Community. A Government Order issued by the Government of Tamil Nadu requiring all the Trustees to be persons belonging to the minority community in case of a Trust which claims a status of minority, was also cited as a reason for the objections.
4. Ultimately, a suit in CS No.1047 of 2010 came to be filed seeking framing of a scheme for proper management of the Trust. By that time, the Trust had established at least six Educational Institutions in a Village called Perumalpattu on the outskirts of the city of Chennai.
They are (i) Sriram Polytechnic College;
(ii) Sriram Engineering College;
(iii) Sriram Arts and Science College;
(iv) Sriram Matriculation School;
(v) Sriram Institute of Management Studies; and (vi)Sriram Institute of Hotel Management and Catering Technology.
The strength of the students in these Institutions also swelled to 6000.
There was also a general complaint that the first of the Founder Trustees Mr. M.A.Ehirajulu Naidu, had hijacked the Trust and converted it into a family Trust.
5. The said suit was resisted by the existing Trustees viz. the son and grandson of Mr.M.A.Ehirajulu Naidu and Mrs.Kasturi Parthasarathy, wife of Mr.L.A.Parthasarathy, one of the permanent trustees appointed by the author. Various allegations and counter allegations were traded between the parties. The Villagers of Perumalpattu also stepped in with the claim that they must be represented in the Board of Trustees. It was also claimed that the Author of the Trust was only the author and the Trust itself came into existence at the initiative of Thiru.M.A.Ehirajulu Naidu and that was the reason why both the Mr.M.A.Ehirajulu Naidu and his son were made first permanent Trustees. It was also claimed that due to the infighting among the Trustees and the alleged mismanagement, the strength of the students in the Colleges drastically reduced putting the Trust into heavy financial strain. A comparison was made between the number of students admitted to other Engineering Colleges in that area and the number of students, who sought admission in Sriram Engineering College, to justify the con
