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PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
NEW DELHI, Aug 5: The Delhi High Court today reserved its order on a suit pertaining to certain allegations against the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF) trust saying it would have to be seen whether certain portions of the plaint were to be deleted for either being ``unnecessary or scandalous''.
Justice S K Mahajan reserved the order after he was not fully satisfied with certain averments made by lawyer P N Lekhi, who filed the suit.
The court said arguments on the maintainability of the suit would only be heard after the pronouncement of the order on deletion of the ``unnecessary'' portions in the plaint.
Lekhi sought removal of Sonia Gandhi as chairperson of the trust, examination of the trust deed and removal of paragraph nine of the deed, which provides for her continuation as chairperson during her pleasure.
He also sought an inquiry into the affairs of the trust alleging that the trustees had breached its memoranda and violated the Indian Trust Act.
He said the inquiry was sought on the points NEW DELHI, Aug 5: The Delhi High Court today reserved its order on a suit pertaining to certain allegations against the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF) trust saying it would have to be seen whether certain portions of the plaint were to be deleted for either being ``unnecessary or scandalous''.
Justice S K Mahajan reserved the order after he was not fully satisfied with certain averments made by lawyer P N Lekhi, who filed the suit.
The court said arguments on the maintainability of the suit would only be heard after the pronouncement of the order on deletion of the ``unnecessary'' portions in the plaint.
Lekhi sought removal of Sonia Gandhi as chairperson of the trust, examination of the trust deed and removal of paragraph nine of the deed, which provides for her continuation as chairperson during her pleasure.
He also sought an inquiry into the affairs of the trust alleging that the trustees had breached its memoranda and violated the Indian Trust Act.
He said the inquiry was sought on the pointswhether the corpus (funds) of the trust had served any aim and object for which it was created and was spent accordingly, or not.
If the corpus was not spent for the purpose, what were the reasons, circumstances and justification for investing the money in public sector undertakings and banks, Lekhi asked.
Lekhi said according to the annual reports of the trust for 1992-93 and 1996-97, the trustees had not utilised its property for the objects mentioned in the memoranda, but created corpus which was not the purpose.
According to the figures in the balance sheets, only about three per cent was spent during this period for the declared purpose, while the corpus of the trust had grown from initial Rs 500 in June 1991 to Rs 12 crore in 1992.
The annual report was silent over the grants given by various ministries for projects such as initiative to education, rehabilitate and assist child victim of terrorism (interact) project, the plaintff alleged and claimed that Rs 1.5 crore were granted by the HomeMinistry for the project during 1995-96.
The Human Resource Development Ministry had granted nearly Rs 2 crore for setting up libraries in rural areas by the trust, Lekhi claimed, adding even the Planning Commission has set up substantial amount for the trust which was nowhere acknowledged in the audit report.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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