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TMI Blog1991 (12) TMI 286X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d, plaintiff has come in appeal. The issue under consideration is whether the CitFV. y Court had jurisdiction to try the suit. If the answer to the issue be in the negative, the order impugned in appeal will naturally not survive. 3. Plaintiff a co-trustee of defendants Nos. 1 to 3 complains of defendant No. 1 with the aid of defendant Nos. 2 and 3 misusing her position as a managing trustee. Defendant No. 1 has got the plaint defendant No. 2 and 3 to pass a resolution granting a lease of Dhan Bhavan to herself at the trivial rent of ₹ 500/- per month. Even that trifling sum was reduced to nothing by a later resolution. Plaintiff as a trustee was not a party to either the lease or the no-rent resolutions. In fact defendant No. 1 as a trustee could not take trust property on lease or make any against out of trust property. Defendant No. 4's appointment was illegal as he i.e., plaintiff had not consented to the same. Declarations were sought to nullify resolutions granting Dhan Bhavan on lease to defendant No. 1, appointment of defendant No. 4 as a trustee and that defendant No. 1 had committed several breaches of trust vis-a-vis the trust deed and the Indian Trusts Act, ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... a trustee in certain cases. The beneficiary can under section 74 petition this Court without filing a suit for the appointment of a new trustee. The used provision section 34 is where a trustee without instituting a suit may apply by petition to the principal Court for opinion, advice or direction vis-a-vis the management or administration of trust property. Where the questions raised in the petition relate to detail, difficulty or importance, the Court may refer the petitioner to a suit. 5. Other statutes that have a bearing on the question have nor to be looked into. The Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (CPC) at section 2(4) includes the local limits of the ordinary original civil jurisdiction of the High Court, in the definition of the word 'district. Section 15 mandates the institution of a suit in the Court of the lowest grade competent to try it. Clauses 11,12 and 13 of the Letters Patent deal with the ordinary and extra ordinary original civil jurisdiction of the High Court. Rules relating to the jurisdiction of the High Court on its original side are to be found in part II, Chapter I, of the O. S. Rules. The note to Rule 26 enumerates, the territorial expense to which t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... sion is the acceptance of the position that a suit seeking redress for breach of trust has only one forum, and that the Principal Civil court of original jurisdiction. The acceptance seems to the proper. No provision of the Trusts Act in specific terms vests such jurisdiction in the Principal Court. Even section 34 does not lay down where a trustee seeking an answer to questions, has to file a suit, assuming that he does not want to move a petition for summary disposal. Beatify advisory jurisdiction is vested in a Principal Court it should be presumed that the adjudicatory function is also its preserve. An inferior Court cannot have the superior adjudicatory jurisdiction when the inferior power to advice, opine and direct is left to the superior forum. The many references to the Principal Court in the Trusts Act clearly imply that breach of trust suits have to be instituted in and tried by the Principal Court. This theory gains indirect support from section 92 of the CPC which confers exclusive jurisdiction on the Principal Court for disposal of breach of trust suits. True, that this section is not relevant to the present suit, much less the issues under consideration. But it is a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ndent upon an amalgam of the Delhi High Court Act, 1966 and the Punjab Courts Act. It was held that a part of the Delhi district Court's original civil jurisdiction had come to be vested in the High Court of Delhi under the Delhi High Court Act, 1966 for which reason breach of trust suits over a certain pecuniary value could not be instituted in the District Court, which within the limits prescribed, continued to be the Principal Civil Court of original jurisdiction. 8. A slight digression here is necessary. Section 15 CPC has to be read in the context of there existing a hierarchy of courts. It is for this reason that the section requires the institution of the suit in the Court of lowest competent jurisdiction. Breach of trust suits under the Trusts Act have to be instituted in the Principal Court irrespective of whether it be or not the District Court. Conversely, unless the apex Court be the principal Court, such suits will not lie in that Court. 9. As I understand the position, so far as Bombay is concerned, the Ordinary Original Civil Jurisdiction is vested in this High Court. Growth of litigation has necessitated legislation to lighten the Court's burden and th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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