OFFICIAL TRUSTEE OF TAMIL NADU Vs. UDAVUMKARANKAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Special leave granted.

(2.) It appears that in both the said trusts, hereditary trustees were appointed. It is not clear from the judgments of the courts below as to when the Official Trustee in place of or in addition to the hereditary trustees came on the scene. However, that is not relevant for the decision of the issue involved in the present appeal.

(3.) The predecessor of the present appellant-Official Trustee had made an application to the High Court being Application No. 2043 of 1988, for permission to incur an expenditure of Rs. 6 lakhs for converting the existing tiled-roof of the marriage hall into RCC-roof and for providing Other facilities therein, In the application, the permission to incur other items of expenditure in the sums of Rs. 4,750/-, Rs. 9,620/-and Rs. 3,161.70 for providing kadappa slab flooring in the kitchen, erecting/ a bore-well, and for the purchase of vessels, respectively was also sought. The report which was filed along with the application stated that the marriage hall would fetch a higher income if it was modernised by converting the existing tiled roof into RCC-roof and was provided with the other facilities. The report further gave an estimate of Rs.6 lakhs prepared by the Assistant Engineer attached to the office of the official Trustee, in respect of the said modernisation plan. Along with the report, the estimate and the plan of construction were also filed. From the. report, it was seen that out of the total plinth area of 3822 s.f., only 2145 s .f. were sought to be covered with RCC roof. The court by its order dated 3-5-1988 granted the application and accorded permission to incur all the expenditure mentioned therein.