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Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust and Ors. v. R. Ramanathan and Ors.

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 12 of 2016)Decided 5 Jan 2016
Civil Appeal No. 12 of 2016
Justice Madan B. Lokur · Justice S.A. Bobde

Background

Residents of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry sued under Section 92 CPC to have the Ashram Trust's trustees removed and a new administrative scheme framed, alleging the trustees failed to act against a controversial 2008 biography of Sri Aurobindo ("The Lives of Sri Aurobindo" by Peter Heehs) and against its author. The trial court had initially revoked its own earlier leave to bring the suit, but the Madras High Court reversed that and held the suit was maintainable, directing the matter to proceed.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court noted the legality of banning the book was itself still pending separately before the Orissa High Court, so it would be premature to judge the trustees for not having pre-empted that outcome. The trustees had expressed displeasure with the book's contents and had not sponsored or published it: the Court held this was a reasonable, if mild, response, and that trustees are entitled to wide discretion in administering a trust; mere disagreement with how that discretion was exercised does not amount to a breach of trust unless the exercise was perverse. Finding no maladministration, the Court set aside the High Court's order and restored the revocation of leave to sue, effectively ending the suit, while urging both sides, who are fellow ashram residents, to pursue an amicable settlement instead of further litigation.

Lesson Learnt

A Section 92 CPC suit to remove trustees of a charitable or religious trust will not succeed merely because some members disagree with a trustee's discretionary administrative choices; courts require a genuine, perverse breach of trust, not just a difference of opinion, however strongly felt.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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