State Cannot Dictate What Decisions Can Or Cannot Be Taken By A Public Trust: Supreme Court Sohini Chowdhury 29 Jan 2022 https://www.livelaw.in/top-stories/state-cannot-dictate-what-decisions-can-or-cannot-be-taken-by-a-public-trust-supreme-court-parsi-zoroastrian-anjuman-mhow-190623
The Apex Court was of the view that public control cannot be expanded even by law, to the extent that it renders freedom of association, envisaged in Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution of India, 1950, meaningless.
The aim of public control is to ensure that the trust is administered efficiently and smoothly. The state interest is that far, and no more; it cannot mean that the state can dictate what decisions can or cannot be taken."
Senior Advocate, Mr. A.K. Chitale appearing on behalf of the Trust argued that unlike Section 36 of the Bombay Public Trust Act, Section 14 of the 1951 Act conferred limited power to the Registrar to accept or reject the application seeking prior approval. It was asserted that the grant of approval was only subjected to 'the directions in the instrument of trust' or 'the directions given under the 1951 Act or other law'. Mr. Chitale submitted that the decision to sell was in the interest of the trust as it would have generated an income of Rs. 83 crore, which would have been spent on charity, education, aid of senior citizens, maintenance of trust buildings, increased salary of employees and would have boosted the religious obligations of education, aid of senior citizens, maintenance of trust buildings, increased salary of employees and would have boosted the religious obligations of the trust
The Court observed that though Section 14(1) imposes a precondition to seek the Registrar's approval before selling property of the Trust, Section 14(2) stated that they shall not refuse sanction unless the alienation is prejudicial to the interest of the public trust. The Court further noted that grant of sanction was only subjected to 'the directions in the instrument of trust' or 'the directions given under the 1951 Act or other law' and no additional conditions could have been imposed by invoking Rule 9(3). It was clarified that the contours of the Rules cannot go beyond the scope of the parent provision. The Court was of the view that the State cannot dictate what decisions can or cannot be taken by a public trust. The limited scope of oversight is to see to it that the valuable assets of the public trusts do not go to waste. Acknowledging the limited scope of Section 14, the Court opined -
"…the principle of autonomy and democratic decision-making cannot be undermined. Any organization which is self-governed, cannot be subjected to overarching state control. As long as its decisions are well informed, and grounded on relevant considerations, the interests of the trust are those defined by its members. Any measure of public control enacted through express stipulations in law, should not be expanded to such an extent that the right to freedom of association, under Article 19 (1) (c), is reduced to an empty husk, bereft of meaningful exercise of choice."..
"…the principle of autonomy and democratic decision-making cannot be undermined. Any organization which is self-governed, cannot be subjected to overarching state control. As long as its decisions are well informed, and grounded on relevant considerations, the interests of the trust are those defined by its members. Any measure of public control enacted through express stipulations in law, should not be expanded to such an extent that the right to freedom of association, under Article 19 (1) (c), is reduced to an empty husk, bereft of meaningful exercise of choice."..