TMI Blog1937 (12) TMI 10X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... and administrator of Sunder Singh-Mallah Singh Rajput High School, Indaura, that the defendants have no connection whatsoever with this school or its property, nor have they any right as trustees or administrators in the said school, that the plaintiff alone is the trustee and administrator of this property, in the interests of the said school, and that he alone is entitled to the income and authorised to spend it, and (b) a perpetual injunction against interference by the defendants. 4. The property claimed was detailed as follows, 1. ₹ 95,000 on fixed deposit in the Punjab National Bank, Lahore. 2. War Bonds of the value of ₹ 5,000, also deposited with the said Bank. 3. Bonds, mortgage deeds, and promissory notes, of the value of Rupees one lakh, and 4. Lands and school buildings, etc., mentioned in a list attached to the plaint. 5. The trust through the trustees filed its jawab-i-dawa, denying the right of the plaintiff to any relief, and, on the pleadings the Subordinate Judge framed the following issues :- (1) Whether a suit for a declaration lies? (2) Whether the plaintiff managing committee has locus standi to maintain the suit and has du ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... operty of the school should vest in the managing committee, but no specific properties were mentioned, and no deed of endowment was drawn up. 8. As many of the members of the committee lived at some distance from the school, their attendances do not appear to have been at all regular, and there seems little doubt that Mallah Singh took the main burden of management. In 1925, apparently regarding himself as still having a free hand, and having formed the desire to further extend the institution into a college, Mallah Singh executed on November 26, 1925, the deed of trust in favour of the defendant-appellants, whose attempt to enter on their duties at the school roused the respondent committee. This led to intervention of the police and proceedings under Sections 144 and 145 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which were started on May 11, 1926. Eventually the parties agreed to leave the school and its properties in the possession of Mallah Singh, and to seek their remedy in the civil Court. As the trial Judge points out, this possession of Mallah Singh was his personal possession and was not in his capacity as president of either the committee or the trust. The present suit was there ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hall be filed with the memorandum of association. 3. Upon such memorandum and certified copy being filed, the registrar shall certify under his hand that the society is registered under this Act. There shall be paid to the registrar for every such registration a fee of fifty rupees, or such smaller fee as the Provincial Government may, from time to time, direct; and all fees so paid shall be accounted for to the Provincial Government. 5. The property, moveable and immoveable, belonging to a society registered under this Act, if not vested in trustees, shall be deemed to be vested, for the time being, in the governing body of such society, and in all proceedings, civil and criminal, may be described as the property of the governing body of such society by their proper title. 6. Every society registered under this Act may sue or be sued in the name of the president, chairman, or principal secretary, or trustees, as shall be determined by the rules and regulations of the society, and, in default of such determination, in the name of such person as shall be appointed by the governing body for the occasion : Provided that it shall be competent for any person having a claim o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... is left uncertain whether this witness was referring to the memorandum as the articles of association ; counsel were unable to inform their Lordships definitely what was the reason of the brackets round the words nor sign them. If the defendants really desired to displace the presumption in this respect, it was clearly their duty to seek to recover the original memorandum and to put the signature thereon to the witness. Their Lordships are therefore of opinion that the association was duly registered and had therefore locus standi to maintain the suit. 14. There remains the question under the latter part of issue No. 2, whether Kharak Singh and Ram Singh were duly authorised to institute the suit. It is now admitted that the minute of meeting of the managing committee dated July 31, 1926, constitutes ex facie a due authority to Kharak Singh and Ram Singh to institute the suit, but the appellants maintained (c) that the respondents had failed to discharge the burden of proof laid on them by Section 106 of the Indian Evidence Act, in that they had not proved that due notices of the meeting had been given to the members of the committee, and (b) that, in any event, it had been ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ships, Rule 4 of the rules and regulations, to which Mallah Singh was a party, taken along with Sections 5 and 16 of the Act of 1860, was sufficient to vest the; buildings of the school and the attached lands, as they then existed, in the committee. The Subordinate Judge himself has found that the committee appointed its office-bearers and the management of the school was made over to them. It must be remembered that the Indian Trusts Act of 1882 does not apply to charitable endowments. Their Lordships are therefore of opinion, in agreement with the High Court, that the school buildings and attached lands were irrevocably dedicated by Mallah Singh at the time of the registration of the association, and, further, that any subsequent alteration of these buildings or additions to them, must be held to have accrued to the original dedication. 18. As regards the fixed deposit of ₹ 95,000 and the ₹ 5,000 of war bonds, the letter of Mallah Singh to the Punjab National Bank, dated November 18, 1922, which included the resolution of the managing committee, and enclosed a copy of the rules and regulations, affords ample evidence of dedication and divestiture in favour of th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
