Conditional charitable gifts fail if stipulated terms are unmet; cy pres cannot rescue a donation with a specific donor intention.

A charitable donation made on specified terms does not become an absolute gift unless the stipulated conditions are fulfilled. Where the donor required construction at a particular site, in accordance with an approved plan, through a named agency, and with matching government support, failure of those terms meant the money remained subject to a condition precedent and became refundable under a resulting trust. The cy pres doctrine applies only to a completed charitable gift with a general charitable intention; it cannot be used where the donor's object was specific and the essential conditions never came into existence.

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Issues: (i) Whether the donation of Rs. 30,000 was an unconditional charitable gift or a conditional gift subject to a condition precedent. (ii) Whether the cy pres doctrine could be invoked to save the failed charitable object.

Issue (i): Whether the donation of Rs. 30,000 was an unconditional charitable gift or a conditional gift subject to a condition precedent.

Analysis: The factual findings showed that the payment was made on the understanding that the hospital would be constructed at a particular site, according to the approved plan, through the donor's agency, and with a matching contribution from Government. Those terms were not fulfilled. The money was therefore not treated as an absolute gift but as a payment subject to the performance of stipulated conditions. Where the condition on which a charitable gift is made is not satisfied, the gift does not take effect and the recipient cannot retain the money as owner.

Conclusion: The donation was a conditional gift, and on failure of the conditions the money became refundable to the donor's estate. This was against the appellant and in favour of the respondents.

Issue (ii): Whether the cy pres doctrine could be invoked to save the failed charitable object.

Analysis: The doctrine applies only where there is a completed charitable gift with a general charitable intention and the original mode or object cannot be carried out. On the findings recorded, the donor had particularised the object, the site, the mode of construction, and the agency, and the essential conditions had never been complied with. In such a case, there was no completed charitable trust to which cy pres could attach. The failure of the condition precedent left the State as a mere custodian of the money, and the appropriate consequence was a resulting trust in favour of the donor.

Conclusion: The cy pres doctrine was inapplicable, and the failed charity could not be reworked into a different scheme. This was against the appellant and in favour of the respondents.

Final Conclusion: The appeal failed because the donation never matured into an unconditional charity and the State could not retain the amount after non-fulfilment of the stipulated terms.

Ratio Decidendi: A charitable donation subject to a condition precedent does not take effect unless the condition is fulfilled, and cy pres cannot be invoked where the donor's intention was specific rather than generally charitable.

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