Administrator General of Tamil Nadu vs In the estate of T. Venkatasubramaniam

Srinivasan, J.—This application is taken out by the Administrator General of Tamil Nadu with a prayer to sanction a sum of Rs. 50,000/-

and to incur the expenditure from out of the funds of the Trust Estate of T. Venkatasubramaniam for donating to the library fund of Madras Bar

Association to expand the library further. In the report of the Administrator General, it is stated that the main intention of the will is to grant

scholarships to the poor and deserving students for their uplift in general and technical education, and the same is being carried out by the

Administrator General yearly. It is also staled that the surplus income is spent on the issuance of scholarship to the poor students. It is averred that

the Madras Bar Association, in its letter dated 21.4.1993, has requested the Administrator General to sanction a sum of Rs. 1 lakh for the library

fund in order to expand the library further. It is also staled that after setting apart Rs. 75,000/- for grant of scholarship for the academic year 1993-

94, there is a balance of Rs. 54,600/- available with the applicant.

The trust is created by the will of T. Venkatasubramaniam on 24.4.1913. The testator died on 15.3.1915. By order dated 11.5.1932 in

Application No. 1728 of 1932, this Court directed the Administrator General of Madras to apply for administration of the estate of T.

Venkatasubramaniam, the above named deceased, and accordingly an application was filed in O.P. No. 28 of 1933 by the Administrator General

for issue of Letters of Administration. The same was ordered and Letters were issued on 13.3.1933. The relevant portions of the will are as

follows: -

I find from my father''s papers, that he at one time contemplated endowing a Sanskrit Patasala at Tirutani, but my birth seems to have stood in the

way of its completion. Now I have no children or the near prospect of having any and I am therefore. free to dispose of the entire property as I

please. Even if a son be borne to me hereafter, having been in the womb at my demise, he shall have none of my sett acquisitions and my half of the

ancestral properly. My wish as regards the use to be made of my property is that it should be employed in the cause of education and that the

endowments or trust to be created for that purpose shall be named after my father, T. Nagaiah. But I give up his favorite subject Sanskrit (for

which I think enough is being done in the country now) and since I look to the industrial education of the masses as the only hope of India''s

regeneration and as I believe that all other reforms will follow the industrial revival, I direct that the corpus of my Estate shaft be devoted to the

spreading: of industrial or technical education on national lines. The Executors shall make suitable efforts to convert the properties where necessary

and to keep them safe and well invested and make the necessary arrangements for utilising the income therefrom for the aforesaid objects.

When my wife Venkammaattains age and wishes to do so she maybe asked to join the Board of Executorial least to make the final gift. As regards

the lands in Owk and other surrounding villages, Owk itself is a village centrally situated and its Reddi (or village munsif) Narasuppa and Kurnum

Baliah there as well as some others there are my friends who might be asked to form themselves into an educational committee to open a Primary

School on the model of the rural school for giving manual and agricultural training along with a knowledge of the three R''s in Telugu, the language

of the communion there, to the pupils of the surrounding country parts, by improving the present condition of my lands and using their enhanced

income for the school with other public collection made by them but chiefly naming my concerns as ''Nagambhatlavari Dharmam.''

As to the final disposal of the properly the Executors shall choose the Patchiappa''s Trustee or any other similar body of gentlemen in management

of technical or industrial schools or any ordinary school where the ''shoyd'' method is worked in Madras and its neighborhood. the Executors shall

then hand over the property to such trustees empowering them to use the income only (and not the corpus) in further adherence of technical

education by granting prizes or scholarships or by imparting a knowledge of the 3 R''s or even higher course when their status is improved to mill-

hands out of their working hours. The only stipulation I wish to make in regard to this matter is that the endowment shall be named T. Nagaiah''s

Charities and the benefits thereof shall be enjoyed by Hindus alone to the exclusion of other religious communities foreign to India.

A perusal of the above clauses will show that the testator has founded the Trust with a specific object of providing industrial and technical

education on national fines. He has also provided for opening of primary school on the model of the rural school for giving manual and agricultural

training along with a knowledge of the three R''s in Telugu. Further, he has stipulated an express condition that the endowment and the benefits

thereof shall be enjoyed by Hindus alone to the exclusion of other religious communities foreign to India. In view of the said clauses of the will, no

discretion is left to the trustee of the Trust to utilise the funds for any purpose other than that mentioned in the will. In the present case, the

Administrator General is in management of the Trust pursuant to the orders of the Court. It is not open to the Administrator General to spend funds

even if there is a surplus for any purpose other than that mentioned in the will. It is the duty of the Administrator General to spend the entire income

every year for the purpose mentioned in the will. He ought to provide for industrial and technical education on national lines to the needy. He

should also make arrangements for opening a primary school on the model of the rural school for giving manual and agricultural training. He should

see that the benefits go only to Hindus and not to people of other religious communities. In the circumstances, it is not open to the Administrator

General or this Court to permit the Administrator General to make donation of any amount to the Madras Bar Association. There can be no doubt

that the Madras Bar Association comprises of persons belonging to religious communities other than Hindus. Moreover, the library fund of the

Madras Bar Association cannot be said to fall within the specific object mentioned in the will, It cannot be considered as industrial or technical

education on national lines. There is no question of applying the doctrine of cypress in this case. It is not a case of trust failing on account of

absence of the beneficiaries of the Trust. There are thousands of pupils who are in need of funds to continue their higher industrial and technical

education. The Official Trustee is directed to make arrangements to open the primary school on the model of the rural school as mentioned in the

will. In addition to that, the Official Trustee shall issue advertisements in newspapers calling for applications for scholarships from persons who

want to pursue their industrial or technical education. Besides the scholarships which are now awarded by the Official Trustee, they can invite more

number of applications for the purpose of spending the surplus. If he finds that there are deserving cases of fit pupils who are in actual need of

funds by way of scholarship to continue their higher industrial or technical education, the Official Trustee should not hesitate to grant scholarship, it

is better that the Official Trustee insists upon certificates from the respective Heads of the Institutions where such applicants are carrying on their

studies to the effect that the applicants are really poor and in need of funds for continuing their education. Besides that, the Official Trustee may

also call for a certificate of income of the family members of such applicants from the Revenue Authorities or the respective employers. With the

above directions, this application is dismissed.