Case: Princ.Secr.,Govt.Of Karnataka  Vs. Ragini Narayan

the plaintiff (Respondent No. 1 herein) Ragini Narayan filed a suit for declaration that after death of her husband, she is the Donor Trustee of B.M. Sreenivasaiah Educational Trust, Bangalore (for short. It is not disputed that late Shri B.M. Sreenivasaiah, a philanthropist, started BMS College of Engineering in the year 1946. After his death it was his son B.S. Narayan, who was running the institution. In 1957, the institution was transferred to BMS Trust by B.S. Narayan (since died). The then Government of Mysore (now Government of Karnataka) extended financial assistance to the Trust to clear its encumbrances, and agreed to establish the BMS College for Women by the Trust. It is stated that the appellant/Government of Karnataka gave grant-in-aid for the three colleges run by the Trust.3. Thecase is that she is legally wedded wife of B.S. Narayan (the original Donor Trustee) as she got married to him on 21.05.1984, after he divorced his first wife, namely, Smt. Minnie Narayan. It is pleaded that the plaintiff continued to live as his wife till his death on 23.08.1995. It is further pleaded that vide Trust Deed dated 02.12.1957, Dharmaprakasha Rajakaryasakta B.M. Sreenivasaiah Educational Trust was created by B.S. Narayan, his mother and step mother by transferring properties worth Rs.5000 crores. The Council of Trustees consisted of five members (trustees) with B.S. Narayan as a Donor Trustee. In terms of the Trust Deed B.S. Narayan and all his successors had the right to appoint three of the trustees while the remaining one trustee was to be appointed/nominated by the Government of Karnataka (defendant No 2/appellant herein).4. The Council of Trustees in the presence of the then Chief Minister, in its meeting dated 12.10.1978 resolved to amend the Trust Deed allowing B.S. Narayan to nominate any person as Donor Trustee for life time and also provided for succession to the Donor Trustee. The State Government (appellant) approved said amendment vide communication dated 25.09.1979 and supplementary Trust Deed was executed on 25.06.1981, but the amendment regarding succession to the Donor Trusteeship was not carried out.5. Dispute starts from the year 1994. On 10.12.1994 in another meeting of Council of Trustees, a resolution was passed to amend the Trust Deed to give effect to the succession to Donor Trusteeship, with certain changes from the earlier resolution mentioned in preceding para. In the light of the amendment made in 1994, a Deed dated 30.01.1995 was registered providing that after the life time of B.S. Narayan, his senior most lineal descendant or a member of his family, nominated by him or his wife, shall be the Donor Trustee. It is pleaded by the plaintiff that B.S. Narayan, exercising powers under clause IV(iv) of the Trust Deed, vide document dated 16.01.1995, nominated the plaintiff to be the Donor Trustee in his place with effect from 16.01.1995. The plaintiff has further pleaded that B.S. Narayan never revoked said delegation till his death. The document dated 30.01.1995 further provided that after death of B. S. Narayan his wife shall be the Donor Trustee under the Trust Deed.6. Admittedly, B.S. Narayan died on 23.08.1995 in Workhardt Hospital where he was undergoing treatment for cancer of colon. B.S. Narayan died issueless leaving behind his mother Smt. Laxmamma and the plaintiff. Claiming herself to be the Donor Trustee after the death of her husband, the plaintiff wrote letter dated 28.08.1995 to Shri Y. Ramachandra, Chairman of the Trust. Prof. P.V. Bhandari, who was the Government nominee/trustee, forwarded the letter of the plaintiff to the Government. Vide letter dated 30.09.1995, the plaintiff sought cooperation of the State Government in discharging functions by her as a Donor Trustee. However, there was no response from the Government and in the meanwhile Y. Ramachandra, Chairman of the Trust appears to have written a letter dated 15.09.1995 requesting the State Government to take over the Trust. It appears that the appellants appointed M.R. Sreenivasa Murthy (respondent No. 2 herein) as Donor Trustee vide communication dated 07.11.1995.7. Communication dated 07.11.1995, issued on behalf of the appellants appointing Respondent No. 2 as Donor Trustee, was challenged by the plaintiff Ragini Narayan in Writ Petition No. 40933 of 1995 which was disposed of by the High Court leaving the plaintiff to avail the remedy available before the Civil Court, and a Committee of Chairman and Trustees appointed by the court was directed to manage the affairs of the Trust, in the meantime. Consequently the suit was filed.8. Apart from the appellants, Respondent No. 2 (defendant No. 3 before the civil court) contested the suit. He filed his separate written statement. The pleas taken by him are in substance the same as raised by the appellants (defendant Nos. 1 and 2). It is pleaded by the defendants that under proviso to clause VI (xii) of the Trust Deed approval of the State Government was necessary for any amendment in the Trust Deed. It is further pleaded that as per original clause (IV)(1) B.S. Narayan, the designated original Donor Trustee was to hold the office during his life time, whereafter his senior most lineal descendants were to succeed as Donor Trustee. And in absence of any lineal descendant trustee, the nominee of State Government was to act as Donor Trustee. The case of the defendants is that the State Government had given its approval to the amendment dated 12.10.1978 in respect of para IV(iv) of the Trust Deed which was incorporated in the supplementary Trust Deed dated 25.06.1981. It is further stated that insofar as proposed amendment to clause (IV)(1) is concerned, since B.S. Narayan himself withheld nomination of his first wife Minnie Narayan as Donor Trustee after his death, as such, said amendment did not form part of the supplementary Trust Deed dated 25.06.1981. It is stated on behalf of the appellants and Respondent No. 2 that the Council of Trustees had no authority to amend the original Trust Deed without the consent of the Government of Karnataka. As such, the amendment dated 10.12.1994 registered on 30.01.1995 relied on behalf of the plaintiff, being without the approval of the State Government, is inoperative. Even otherwise as per the amendment of 1995, the power to delegate the powers of Donor Trustee was to be exercised for a limited period i.e. during life time of B.S. Narayan, and the plaintiff as the wife of B.S. Narayan has no right to continue as Donor Trustee after the death of her husband.9. The trial court, as well as the High Court, has decided the issue as to the validity of marriage of the plaintiff with B.S. Narayan in her favour. Both the courts have also found that B.S. Narayan had an authority to nominate his wife, and that the delegation of powers of Donor Trustee in favour of the plaintiff suffers from no illegality. The High Court has upheld the decree passed by the trial court in favour of the plaintiff. Hence this appeal through special

Court's reasoning:
19. There is concurrent finding of fact of the courts below that Ragini Narayan was the wife of B.S. Narayan Donor Trustee, at the time of his death, as such it cannot be said that mode of succession mentioned in para (IV)(i) failed. Whether it is amendment of 1978 or 1995 the expression "or hisis there. In our opinion the words-‘or hisin the amendment of 1978 to which the appellants admittedly approved refer to wife of the Donor Trustee. Same expression is retained in the 30.01.1995 amendment. The amendment of 1978 was, admittedly, approved by the State of Karnataka. Insofar as the amendment of 1994 is concerned, we have already held that by virtue of Ex.A-7 dated 13.8.1995, the recital contained therein and in view of the letter of the State Government dated 7.11.1995 the consent of the State Government to the amendment of 1994 can be readily inferred. Therefore, we do not find any error in the impugned order passed by the High Court. However, we clarify that any nominee appointed by the State Government as Trustee will be entitled to function as ordinary trustee in the Council of Trustees as provided in the Trust Deed but not as the Donor Trustee till the succession as mentioned in the Trust Deed (as amended) fails.