The regulatory jurisdiction of the government over the management of charitable trusts under the Endowments Act must be preserved, requiring inquiry into trustee actions and adherence to statutory compliance.

COMMON ORDER:

W.P.No.37082 of 2024 is filed against the Letter dated 06.03.2024 issued by respondent No.4- M.R. Venkat Rao (allegedly a self-styled Chairman of respondent No.3-Munnurukapu (Kapu) Vidyarthi VasathiGruham Trust), suspending the petitioner from the Trusteeship of the respondent No.3-Trust; W.P.No.7932 of 2024 is filed against the Letter dated 20.02.2024, suspending the petitioner from the Trusteeship; W.P.No.25495 of 2023 is filed against the Letter dated 05.09.2023, suspending the petitioner from the Trusteeship of the Trust; W.P.No.33287 of 2023 is filed against the Letter dated 01.12.2023, calling for a meeting on 08.12.2023.

2. The petitioners in these writ petitions are primarily aggrieved by their suspension as Trustees of the respondent No.3-Trust.The subject matter of these writ petitions is similar and connected, and therefore the petitions are analogously heard and are being disposed of by way of this Common Order. For the purpose of discussion and reference, the averments in W.P.No.37082 of 2024 are taken.

3. The case of the petitioner, as per the writ affidavit in W.P.No.37082 of 2024, is that he is a senior trustee of respondent No.3-Munnurukapu (Kapu) Vidyarthi VasathiGruham Trust (for short, the Trust), which is an institution notified under Section 6(b)(ii) of the Endowments Act , 1890, and a publication to that effect was made vide Gazette Notification dated 26.10.1995. It is stated that the petitioner and his family has contributed significantly to the corpus of the Trust by collecting donations, and the Trust was notified in the Gazette notification; and thereafter the Government vide G.O.Rt.No.146 dated 02.06.2020 exempted the Trust from operation of Section 15 and Section 29 of the Telangana State Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions & Endowments Act , 1987 for a period of five years. While so, it is stated that 4^th respondent-Mr. M.R. Venkat Rao, who resigned from the Chairmanship of the Trust, on health issues, and handed over the charge of Chairmanship to the petitioner, had unilaterally removed the petitioner from the post of Managing Trustee on 05.09.2023. Further, the 4^th respondent issued letter dated 05.09.2023 suspending one of the Trustee i.e., Daduvai Raghavender, aggrieved by which the said Daduvai Raghavender filed W.P.No.25495 of 2023 before this Court and this Court granted interim suspension dated 13.09.2023 and the same is in force.

3.1 It is also stated that the 4^th respondent, without notice and approval from the petitioner and other Trustees, appointed three new trustees, i.e, Akula Nagesh, Yalagundla Devender and Amaram Chandra Shekhar, which is a contravention of law, as a new trustee can be appointed only as per Clause No.3 of the Trust Deed dated 16.10.1956, and that there is no provision for appointing more than 5 Trustees. However, the 4^th respondent has committed illegalities by appointing three more trustees. The said action was challenged in W.P.No.33287 of 2023, which is pending before this Court. It is stated that the Commissioner, Endowments issued letter dated 19.02.2024 directing the Regional Joint Commissioner to see that only the Trustees included in G.O.Rt.No.146, dated 02.06.2020 are entitled to attend the Trust Board meeting, and the Trustees shall operate the Bank account which is in operation as on the date of issuance of the G.O.Rt.No.146, and they are not entitled to divert funds to other private Banks by opening new account without bringing into the knowledge of Government/Department, which amounts to embezzlement of funds.

3.2 It is alleged that the 4^th responde