MAHADEO DEOSTHAN WADALI Vs. JOINT CHARITY COMMISSIONER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) A question of some importance that is raised in this writ petition is whether the Joint Charity Commissioner can, under Section 36 (2) of the Bombay Public Trusts Act, 1950 (hereinafter referred to as the Act') revoke the sanction given to a public trust for alienation of its immovable property by a sale deed, after the sale deed is executed pursuant to the sanction granted under Section 3 (1) of the Act and the property alienated by the trust no longer retains the character of property as that of a public trust. In other words, can the Joint Charity Commissioner invoke the power under Section 36 (2) of the Act for revoking the sanction after the sanction merges into the sale deed and there remains nothing to be revoked. The facts necessary to understand the controversy involved in this petition may be briiefly summarised thus.

(2.) SHRI Mahadeo Deosthan, Wadali" is a registered Public Trust. The petitioners 2 to 5 and respondent No. 2 are the trustees of the said trust. The trust owned Survey No. 1/1 of village Wadali, Tahsil and district Amravati. The field measured 12 acres and 26 gunthas. An application dated 13-2-1984 was made by the trust before respondent No. 1, the Joint Charity Commissioner, Nagpur, under Section 36 of the Act, for obtaining sanction for transfer of 10 acres of land from Survey No. 1/1 to the petitioner No. 6 M/s. Rajeshwar Trading Company, Amravati. The said land was in possession of protected tenant named Namdeorao uke. The lease money was Rs. 400/- per year. The lease money had remained unpaid since the last five or six years. The Board of Trustees had passed a resolution resolving to sell 10 acres of land from the aforesaid field. An advertiesment was issued for the same in the local newspapers. Four offers including that of the petitioner No. 6 :m/s. Rajeshwar Trading company, Amarvati were received. Out of them, three persons making the offer refused to purchase the land on the ground that it was encumbered with tenancy rights. The petitioner No. 6 M/s. Rajeshwar Trading company, however, agreed to purchase the land at Rs. 38,000/- per acre. The market price of the land, as gathered from the certificate of Patwari, was approximately Rs. 35,000/- per acre. The trustees found that the offer of Rs. 38,000/- per acre made by the petitioner No. 6 who had agreed to purchase the same with the liability of tenancy rights was reasonable and was in the interest of the Trust, especially when in lieu of an annual income of lease money of Rs. 400/- only, the Trust was likely to be benefited by getting Rs. 45,000/. as yearly interest if the sale proceeds were invested in the Bank. All the aforesaid facts were brought to the notice of the Joint Charity Commissioner by the application dated 13-2-1984 (Annexure A) to this petition. The Joint Charity Commissioner, after making necessary enquiries, granted sanction by his order dated 11-5-1984 which is at Annexure B.

(3.) A deal was struck between the tenant and the intending purchaser m/s. Rajeshwar Trading Company, petitioner No. 6, after the aforesaid sanction and the Trust was informed that the tenant had agreed to surrender his tenancy rights. A surrender deed dated 3-7-1984 was executed by the tenant and an application was filed on the same date before the tahsildar under Section 20 of the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands (Vidarbha Region) Act, 1958 for verification of the surrender. While the said proceeding were still pending, the Trust executed a registered sale deed of the property in the favour of petitioner No. 6 on 26-7-1984. A mention that the tenant had agreed to surrender the tenancy rights was made in the sale deed. The Tahsildar passed an order dated 4-8-1984 verifying the surrender as valid and directing the Trust to be put in possession of the land. Accordingly, on 20-8-1984, i. e. a month after the sale deed was executed, the Trust executed a possession receipt in favour of the purchaser i. e. petitioner No. 6 and the entire transaction was completed.