Case: Public Trust Shri Geeta Satsang Bhawan Vs. Nand Lal

Trial Court in Civil Suit Nos. 4/2004 and 5/2004. It was held that since the plaintiff-Trust was not registered under the Rajasthan Public Trust Act, 1959(hereinafter referred to as "the Act"), the suit itself was not competent for want of registration in the light of bar contained in Section 29 of the Act. The Appellate Court, therefore, did not go into the merits of the case and dismissed the suit.13. Aggrieved by the said judgments, the appellant preferred S.B.Civil Second Appeal Nos.295/2006 and 296/2006 before the High Court.14. The High Court, by the impugned judgments, dismissed the appeals in limine.15. Against both the judgments, this appeal by special leave is filed by the plaintiff-Trust before this Court.16. Heard Mr. M.R. Calla, learned senior counsel for the appellant-Trust and Mr. Puneet Jain, learned counsel for the respondents.17. During the pendency of this appeal, the appellant (plaintiff) filed I.A. No 5 of 2013 and sought permission to file additional documents in support of their case. The appellant along with IA filed one Registration Certificate issued on 07.02.2013 by the office of the Assistant Commissioner, Department of Endowments, Jodhpur, Government of Rajasthan(Annexure A-3) certifying therein that the appellant(plaintiff)-Trust is registered under the Act w.e.f. 07.02.2013. A prayer was, therefore, made to take this document on record being relevant one for deciding the appeal. This I.A. was allowed by this Courts order dated 20.01.2014.18. Having heard the learned counsel for the parties and on perusal of the record of the case, we are inclined to allow the appeal in part and while setting aside the impugned order and also of the first Appellate Court and the Trial Court restore the civil suit to its file for deciding the civil suit afresh on merits in accordance with law.19. It is an admitted fact that the appellant/plaintiff - Trust was not a registered public Trust under the Act on the date of filing the civil suit. It is also an admitted fact that the appellant-plaintiff, therefore, got the Trust registered as required under the Act only on 07.02.2013 during the pendency of this appeal.20. Section 29 of the Act, which applies to this case, reads as under:"Section 29. Bar against suits by un-registered trust-(1) No suit to enforce a right on behalf of a public trust which is required to be registered under this Act but has not been so registered shall be heard or decided in any Court.(2) The provisions of Sub-section(1) shall apply to claim of set off or other proceeding to enforce a right on behalf of such public trust."21. Section 29 creates a bar "for hearing and deciding a suit" filed by the public Trust for enforcement of any of their rights, if the said Trust is not registered under the Act. The bar, therefore, applies for "hearing and deciding" a suit and not in filing the suit. In other words, suit can be filed by the unregistered Trust but such suit will neither be heard nor decided by the Court unless and until the Trust is registered under the Act. Section 29 is, therefore, operates as stay of proceedings in the suit so long as the Trust does not get itself registered under the Act.22. A fortorari, the moment the Trust is registered under the Act, the Trial Court would assume the jurisdiction to hear and decide the suit on merits. The bar created under Section 29 of the Act for "hearing and deciding" the suit is then lifted and ceases to apply to the proceedings in the suit.23. As mentioned supra, since the appellant (plaintiff) - Trust was registered under the Act on 07.02.2013, they acquired a right to prosecute the suit on merits against the respondents. The bar created under Section 29 then would no longer operate to the proceedings in the suit.24. In our opinion, the Trial Court was, therefore, wholly unjustified in proceeding to hear and decide the suit on merits by passing a judgment/decree. It failed to see the rigor of Section 29 which had taken away the jurisdiction of the Trial Court in hearing and deciding the suit.25. Similarly, the first Appellate Court and the High Court also erred in straightaway dismissing the appellants suit. Having held and indeed rightly that the Trust was unregistered, instead of deciding the appeal and dismissing the suit should have stayed the proceedings by granting some reasonable time to the appellant/plaintiff-Trust to get their Trust registered under the Act. If despite granting time, the Trust had failed to obtain the Registration Certificate then in such eventuality, the first Appellate Court could have dismissed the suit.26. Be that as it may, now that the appellant/plaintiff has obtained the necessary registration certificate in relation to their Trust under the Act, which is also taken on record, their suit can now be heard and decided on merits by the Trial Court. The bar operating under Section 29 of the Act for hearing and deciding the suit would no longer apply to the suit and the Civil Court would now assume jurisdiction to try the suit on merits.27. Learned counsel for the appellant (plaintiff), however, submitted that the matter be remanded to the first Appellate Court to decide the appeal filed by the respondent on merits because the Trial Court has already decided the suit on merits in their favour. The submission is devoid of any merit for more than one reason.28. First, the decree passed by the Trial Court was on the face of it without jurisdiction having been passed in contravention of Section 29 of the Act; second, the Civil Court had no power to hear and decide the suit by virtue of the bar created under section 29 of the Act; and third, admittedly the Trust was not registered on the date of filing of the suit and remained un-registered till the judgment was delivered by the Trial Court. It is for these reasons, the decree passed by the Trial Court is without jurisdiction and has to be set aside.

Decision (1 = appeal accepted, 0 = rejected): 1

Explanation:
1[ds]18. Having heard the learned counsel for the parties and on perusal of the record of the case, we are inclined to allow the appeal in part and while setting aside the impugned order and also of the first Appellate Court and the Trial Court restore the civil suit to its file for deciding the civil suit afresh on merits in accordance with law.19. It is an admitted fact that the appellant/plaintiffTrust was not a registered public Trust under the Act on the date of filing the civil suit. It is also an admitted fact that thetherefore, got the Trust registered as required under the Act only on 07.02.2013 during the pendency of this29 is, therefore, operates as stay of proceedings in the suit so long as the Trust does not get itself registered under the Act.As mentioned supra, since the appellant (plaintiff)Trust was registered under the Act on 07.02.2013, they acquired a right to prosecute the suit on merits against the respondents. The bar created under Section 29 then would no longer operate to the proceedings in the suit.24. In our opinion, the Trial Court was, therefore, wholly unjustified in proceeding to hear and decide the suit on merits by passing a judgment/decree. It failed to see the rigor of Section 29 which had taken away the jurisdiction of the Trial Court in hearing and deciding the suit.25. Similarly, the first Appellate Court and the High Court also erred in straightaway dismissing the appellants suit. Having held and indeed rightly that the Trust was unregistered, instead of deciding the appeal and dismissing the suit should have stayed the proceedings by granting some reasonable time to theto get their Trust registered under the Act. If despite granting time, the Trust had failed to obtain the Registration Certificate then in such eventuality, the first Appellate Court could have dismissed the suit.26. Be that as it may, now that the appellant/plaintiff has obtained the necessary registration certificate in relation to their Trust under the Act, which is also taken on record, their suit can now be heard and decided on merits by the Trial Court. The bar operating under Section 29 of the Act for hearing and deciding the suit would no longer apply to the suit and the Civil Court would now assume jurisdiction to try the suit onsubmission is devoid of any merit for more than one reason.28. First, the decree passed by the Trial Court was on the face of it without jurisdiction having been passed in contravention of Section 29 of the Act; second, the Civil Court had no power to hear and decide the suit by virtue of the bar created under section 29 of the Act; and third, admittedly the Trust was not registered on the date of filing of the suit and remainedtill the judgment was delivered by the Trial Court. It is for these reasons, the decree passed by the Trial Court is without jurisdiction and has to be set aside.