- (1.) This application has been taken out in connection with the affairs of a Trust, being "Seva Nidhi Trust" and the applicants before me are Kumar Mangalam Birla and his wife, Neerja Birla. Their prayer is for permitting them to intervene or get impleaded in the main Application, being G. A. No. 1175 of 2010. In that Application, i. e. G. A. 1175 OF 2010, the main prayer is for adjudging a decree passed in an Originating Summons, registered as Suit No. 355 of 1987 as null and void and of no effect. The Applicant in G. A. No. 1175 of 2010 is Harsh Vardhan Lodha (HVL). This decree was passed on 8 April 1988. All these proceedings, including Suit No. 355 of 1987 deal with the management and administration of the said trust, which has under its administration and control, inter alia, a medical institution in the city of Kolkata, known as Belle Vue Clinic.
(2.) Seva Nidhi Trust (the Trust) was created for undertaking diverse philanthropic works in the year 1950 by Madhav Prasad Birla (since deceased) and Priyambada Devi Birla (since deceased). The reason for taking out the said Originating Summons, would appear from paragraphs 4, 5, 6 and 7 of the affidavit filed in support of the Originating Summons, a copy of which has been made annexure "D" to G. A. No. 1175 of 2010. It is stated therein:- "4. Subsequent to the creation of the said trust new trustees were appointed from time to time and the old trustees also resigned from time to time subject however to the condition that the maximum number of trustees never exceeded 7 and 2 members of the family of Sri Madhav Prasad Birla continued to remain trustees all along. The present trustees of the said that the as under. 1. Sri Nawal Kishore Kejriwal, 2. Sri Madhav Prasad Birla, 3. Smt. Priyamvada Birla, 4. Sri Kashinath Tapuriah, 5. Smt. Nandini Nopany, 6. Smt. Jyotsna Poddar and 7. Smt. Shobhana Bhartia. 5. The family of Sri Madhav Prasad Birla consists of only two persons i. e. himself and his wife Smt. Priyamvada Birla as they have no children. Sri Madhav Prasad Birla is aged about 69 years and his wife is aged about 60 years. Both of them are suffering from various ailments and it can be reasonably presumed that they would not have any children in the future. After the death of either Sri. Madhav Prasad Birla or his wife, Clause 20 of the trust Deed would become unworkable in as much as it stipulated that at least two members of the family of Madhav Prasad Birla should be trustees of the said Trust. Shri L. N. Birla, Shri B. K. Birla and Sri G. P. Birla are the first cousins of Shri Madhav Prasad Birla and are his nearest male relatives. 6. Hence the trustees in a meeting of the trustees held on 22nd January, 1987 have unanimously decided that clause 20 of the said Trust deed should be suitably modified as follows: "The number of trustees shall at no time be less than four and more than seven provided always that so long Sri Madhav Prasad Birla or Smt. Priyamvada Devi Birla, both or either of them are alive, they/he/she shall continue to be the Trustees/Trustee during the tenure of their respective natural lives and in the vacancy of either or both of them the Trustee(s) in the respective places(s) and the successor(s) of such Trustee(s) shall be appointed by the Trustees for the time being from amongst the male descendants in the male line of Shri L. N. Birla, Shri B. K. Birla or Shri G. P. Birla or the wives of such male descendants having attained the age of 18 years in all cases. " 7. The Trustees have authorized the deponent to apply to this Hon'ble Court for confirmation of the aforesaid change in clause 20 since it is a question affecting the management and/or administration of the said Trust. " Clause 20 of the Deed of Trust, a copy of which is Annexure "A" to G. A. No. 1175 of 2010 originally stood as:- "The number of Trustees shall at no time be less than four and more than seven provided always that at least two of the Trustees shall be members of the family of Madhav Prasad Birla. "
(3.) It is submitted on behalf of the applicants that the Originating Summons was taken out by one of the trustees, primarily for ensuring that the line of succession of the trustees of the said trust had among them members of the family of Birlas, who are a leading industrial family of this country. Both Madhav Prasad Birla and Priyamvada Devi Birla, whom I shall refer to in the later part of this judgment as MPB and PDB were defendants in the O. S. Suit No. 355 of 1987, along with the other trustees of the same trust. O. S. Suit No. 355 of 1987 was decreed on 8 April 1988 in the following terms:- "It is declared in answer to the question raised in the said originating Summons that the number of Trustees of Sevanidhi Trust shall at no time be less than four and more than seven provided always that so long Shri Madhav Prasad Birla or Smt. Priyamvada Devi Birla, both or either of them are alive, they/he/she shall continue to be the trustees/trustee during the tenure of their respective natural lives and in the vacancy of either or both of them the Trustee(s) in the respective place(s) and the successor (s) of such Trustee(s) shall be appointed by the Trustees for the time being from amongst the male descendants in the male line of Shri L. N. Birla, Shri B. K. Birla or Shri G. P. Birla or the wives of such male descendants having attained the age of eighteen years in all cases mentioned in paragraph 6 of the affidavit of Nawal Kishore Kejriwal affirmed on the twenty seventh day of April one thousand nine hundred and eighty seven. ";