clr/1981/1981_1_629.pdf

(1981)Cases referred to: Trustees of the Cyprus Overseas ReliefFund v. The AttorneyGeneral of the Republic

(1978)1 C.L.R. 430. Charity Application. Application, by the Trustees of the trustcreatedbyKyriacos 5 G. Apeitos, under section 13(b) of the Charities Law,Cap.41 for an order that they be replaced by the Village Commission of Agros. A. S. Angelides,for the plaintiffs. G. Constantinou (Miss), Counsel of the Republic, for the 10 defendant. Cur.adv.vult. TRLANTAFYLLIDES P. read the following judgment. The plaintiffs, who are the trustees of a charitable trust created on September 23, 1976, by the late Kyriacos G. Apeitos, of 15 Nicosia, for the benefit of Agros village, are seeking an order of this Court that they should be replaced as trustees by the members of the Village Commission of Agros. In the present case I havenot had the opportunity of hearing argument from counsel on the issue of whether the competent 20 Court to make the appointments of new trustees is the appropriate District Court, under the Trustee Law, Cap. 193 (see section 40

(1)of such Law) or whether I could adopt the same course as in The Trustees of the CyprusOverseas ReliefFund v. The Attorney-General of the Republic,

(1978)1 C.L.R. 430, 25 and proceed to appoint the new trustees in the exercise of the powers vested in the Supreme Court by section 13(b) of the Charities Law, Cap.41, andbytherelevant inherentjurisdiction of the Supreme Court. I do not, however, have to pronounce on the above issue, 30 not do I have to deal with the merits of this case, because I cannot, in any event, grant the present application, as it does not comply with rule 11 of the Charities Rules of Court (see Subsidiary Legislation of Cyprus, Revised Edition, 1954, vol. II, p. 417, at p. 418). 35 The said role 11 reads as follows: "II. Where the application is for the appointment of a new trustee or trustees the summons shall state the name, 630 1 C.L.R. 5 Archbishopof Cyprusv. Attorney-General Triantafyllides P. description and residence of every trustee proposed to be appointed and in addition to the affidavit referred to in rule 3 hereof shall be supported by an affidavit of the fitness ofevery suchtrustee togetherwith hissignedconsent to act in the trust. Such consent shall be in the form No. 2 in the Appendix hereto and the signature thereto shallbecertified eitherbya Registrar oftheSupreme Court or by a certifying officer". In the material placed before me there are stated neither 10 the names of the proposed new trustees nor their descriptions and residences; also, there are no affidavits of fitness of the proposed new trustees and there have not been filed their consents to act in the trust. I have considered whether I could adjourn this application 15 in order to enable the plaintiffs to comply with the said rule11, but I find that there are so many material elements lacking that Ithinkthat thebettercourseisto dismissitand leaveopen totheplaintiffs thepossibility offilinganewapplicationcomplying,inevery respect, with the relevant Lawand Rules of Court. 20 Beforedoingsoitwouldbeuseful for theplaintiffs toconsider whether, in the circumstances of this case, they should apply again tothis Court or whether they should apply tothecompetent District Court, under Cap. 193; and, also, whether it is really a feasible course to appoint as new trustees the members 25 of a Village Commission, the composition of which is bound to change periodically, with the result that new applications for the appointments of new trustees will continuously become necessary. This application is dismissed for the above reasons. 30 Application dismissed. 631