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Gourang Haldipur   13 February 2024

Eviction of government school from our trust property

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Sirs- I am the joint secretary of a 90 years old educational trust owned by our community, The trust owns an immovable property on which it constructed a school building in 1934 and started an English medium school, that was run by the trust till 1955. The immovable property stands in the name of the trust in the record of rights. In 1955,  due to some difficulties, the then trustees handed over the school building and furntiure on a 30 year written rent deed to the state govt to run the school, which expired in 1985. By virtue of the rent deed the govt was liable to pay Rs.190 per month as rent to the trust. The govt continued to pay the rent till 1991 but has not paid any rent thereafter. The then trustees did not execute a fresh rent deed after 1985 nor did the govt ask for extension of the rent deed after 1985.

When the present trustees took over in 2015, they issued a legal notice to the govt asking them to quit and handover vacant possession of the land, building and furniture back to our trust and also to pay all the rent.due to the trust, on the ground that the trust wants to build a new school building, as the present building being 90 years old is dilapidated and that trust intends to restart their own english medium school. Non payment of rent was also one of the grounds for asking them to quit. No reply notice was given by the govt.

In order to avoid court proceedings which entails lot of expenses and consumption of time, the trustees made efforts though politicians in power and the govt officials to get the govt school moved from our premises to another govt land, but all these efforts failed. Again, the trust issued a fresh legal notice a few months ago calling upon the govt to quit and pay the rent due. This time the govt.officer concerned (to whom the earlier notice was issued) himself issued a denial stating that the  trust is not the lawful owner of the property, that though the govt had paid the rent at an earlier point of time it is now not liable to pay the rent as govt is running the school. It was further stated in the reply that our trust is not in existence.and that the present board of trustees are not the bonafide members/trustees of the trust.

Having due regard to the above siutaion, I seek the kind help of LCI to kindly opine if

1. The stand taken by the govt that the trust is not the owner of the property  and the govt is not liable to pay the rent, though they had paid the rent earlier, is correct.

2. Whether the govt can deny the existence of the trust, though the trust is registered and has a valid registered trust deed.

3. Whether the govt can deny the present trustees as not being the bonafide members and trustees of the trust.

4. What is the course of action to be adopted in such circumstances.



Learning

 8 Replies

SAM (LEGAL)     13 February 2024

File case before charity commissioner office in your jurisdiction area

1 Like

T. Kalaiselvan, Advocate (Advocate)     13 February 2024

1.  First of all you should ascertain the allegations leveled by the government side that whether they are true or false, if the Trust  is not functioning with proper trust members, then what is the status of the trust.

However the reply given by them is not a valid reason for refusing to vacate the premises belonging to the trust, provided if the trust is functioning effectively even till this date.

You have stated taht you had issued a legal notice in the year 2015, what happened about the follow up after that for the past 9 years.?

2. The turst is not prevented from filing an eviction suit against the government, please ensure that you do not approach the politicians or any back door entry once again because all your efforts will fail once again.

3. You don't stick to the allegations leveled by the government side, you can prove their allegations are false in the trial proceedings.

4. The trust should file an eviction suit

 

1 Like

koppison & co   13 February 2024

Dear Sir- Our trust is registered under The Indian Trusts Act,1882, with the Sub Registrar. There is no charity commissioner controlling trusts registered under the said act in our state. Thanks a lot.

Advocate Bhartesh goyal (advocate)     13 February 2024

File suit for eviction before the competent court having jurisdiction on ground of default in making payments of rent and denial of title.

1 Like

T. Kalaiselvan, Advocate (Advocate)     13 February 2024

Yes, you can proceed with a suit for eviction to evict the defaulting tenants which is government in your case.

1 Like

Gourang Haldipur   14 February 2024

Thanks a lot. Shall convey the same to the board of trustees for their decision.

T. Kalaiselvan, Advocate (Advocate)     14 February 2024

You are welcome for your appreciations. 

You may discuss with the trust members and take appropriate decision, but be aware that even if it is government,  they are just tenants only,  they are also bound by the law,  they cannot take advantage of being a governmental entity. 

1 Like

Gourang Haldipur   14 February 2024

Dear Sir- 1.  The allegations by the government are not true and are imaginary with absolutely no basis. The trust is working properly with the full strength of trustees and members.

2. After issuing the legal notice, we filed our written representation to the state government though its revenue secretray, the collector, the elected MLA and a central minister requesting them to shift the school to an alternate govt land that was identified by our trust. The elected representatives gave their written concurrence to the govt and recommended shifting of the govt school to the govt site shown by us. The file kept moving from one office to another as the government wanted reports from various officers. The education department raised objections to our title, to which we produced necessary records to prove our title. In December-2022, the report was sent by the collector to the revenue secretary, who returned the file to the collector in February-2023 seeking certain clarifications on the title of the trust to the property. The file has not moved an inch since then because of the non cooperation of the officials of the education department who are wilfully avoiding attending the hearings set by the collector. As lok sabha elections are nearing, politicians who appeared to be backing us  have slowly backed out from helping us.

3. We regret that we believed the politicians who assured us of giving us all help in sihfting the govt school from the premises of our trust. We also approached the Education Secretary in the matter, who point blank refused to shift the govt school to the alternate govt land and also refused to hand back our property back to us solely on the ground that our property has been in the possession of the government since 1955. When I tried to convince him tha  the government is in possession of our property as a tenant, he refused to acknowledge that fact and closed the matter abruptly. We felt that we wasted a lot of time running behind the government officers and the politicians. In order to awaken the govt, we reissued the legal notice last year with the hope that the officers will open their eyes and would sit across with the trustees and settle the matter amicably. We were shocked to receive a reply notice.

4. We have been avoiding filing a suit as it entails expenditure of the valuable funds of the trust and consumes lot of time both in the trial and superior courts. However, the trustees are getting a feeling that filing a suit remains the only option given the attitude of the govt officers whose intention appears to only drag on the matter. I am recommending to the trustees to file a suit as advised, when the trustees meet on 18/2/2024. 

Thanks a lot for your kind advise.


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