BHOLANATH SHAW Vs. BADRINATH SHAW

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This suit was instituted with Leave under Clause 12 of the Letters Patent for administration of the trust estate comprised mainly of immovable properties all situate outside the territorial jurisdiction of the Original Side of this Court and for other reliefs including the removal of the defendant No. 1 from the office of the sole trustee and shebait and for appointment of the plaintiff in her place.

(2.) The case pleaded in the unamended plaint is shortly this: One Ram Bharas Shaw was the sole shebait of the defendant deity. He was also the owner of the properties in suit. By a Deed of Trust dated August 2, 1946, he transferred the suit properties to himself as the sole trustee for the objects stated therein. The said Deed, inter alia, provides that on his demise his wife Sm. Dhaneswari Debi shall be the sole trustee for life and on her death his four sons shall be the joint trustees of the trust estate. It also provides that on his death Dhaneswari shall be the sole shebait of the deity and after her death his sons shall be the shebaits of the deify. By a Deed dated June 10, 1949 he transferred two immovable properties of the trust estate absolutely to the deity. He died on June, 1964 and since his death the defendant Sm. Dhaneswari has been acting as the sole trustee and the shebait. She has committed various breaches of trust. She has also acted against the interests of the deity in relation to those two properties. The defendants are the sons and daughters of Ram Bharas. Those sons, except the defendant No. 3, have aided and abetted those wrongful acts of Dhaneswari in collusion and conspiracy with her. The plaintiff is the other son of Ram Bharas and hence he has filed this suit against them for the reliefs mentioned earlier.

(3.) The defendant No. 3 is supporting the plaintiff. His sisters did not appear at the trial. The contesting defendants in their written statements have denied the title of the deity in those two properties and have challenged the validity of the said transfer made by Ram Bharas in favour of the deity. They have also denied the allegations relating to those wrongful acts and have taken the pica that this Court has no jurisdiction to try this suit under clause 12 of the Charter as all the immovable properties are admittedly situated outside its territorial jurisdiction.