The Madras High Court has appointed its retired judge S. Jagadeesan as the administrator of Pachaiyappa’s Charitable Trust after highlighting how disputes over administration of vast amount of properties that were divested by philanthropist Pachaiyappa Mudaliar, for charitable purposes in 1794, continued to linger in court corridors ever since the first decree was passed in 1826 by the then Supreme Court of Madras.
Acting Chief Justice T. Raja and Justice K. Kumaresh Babu said the erstwhile Supreme Court of Madras had passed four decrees on February 3, 1826; October 23, 1832; October 30, 1832; and August 6, 1841. Through the fourth decree, it had held that the performance of charities in the provinces should be under the direction of the Revenue Board. Accordingly, the latter framed a scheme and rules for better administration.
The scheme was challenged after the establishment of the Madras High Court in 1862, and underwent some changes due to the orders passed by the High Court in 1909, 1920, 1963, 2007 and 2008. An application was taken out in 2008 to restrain certain individuals from calling for and conducting elections to the trust. A single judge disposed of the application on June 14, 2018, by appointing an interim administrator.
Thereafter, when the issue was taken on appeal before a Division Bench, the interim administrator relieved himself of the duties. Therefore, the Division Bench on December 23, 2020, ordered that the Administrator General and Official Trustee (AGOT) of the High Court should administer the trust in consultation with the Advocate General (A-G). The Bench also remitted the matter back to the single judge for fresh consideration.
Subsequently, the single judge passed another order on November 30, 2021, holding that the scheme with respect to the administration of the trust could not be modified by way of an application. It could be done only if a civil suit gets filed under Section 92 of the Code of Civil Procedure. Now hearing an appeal against this order, the first Division Bench led by the ACJ concurred with the decision of the single judge.
However, taking into consideration the heavy workload in the offices of the AGOT and the A-G, the Bench appointed Mr. Jagadeesan as an administrator of the trust and let him take a call on getting the scheme amended and conducting elections for the trust.
The retired judge was also given liberty to fix his own remuneration as deemed fit.
