Section 92 trust suits and decree amendment limits: sanctions required, and pleader's fee cannot be changed under inherent powers.

A suit framed against alleged trustees of a public religious trust, seeking declarations on the trust character of funds, accounts, directions for application of the funds, and appointment of a receiver, falls within Section 92 of the Code of Civil Procedure and requires sanction of the Advocate-General; a declaration prayer does not take such a plaint outside the section. A decree cannot be amended under Sections 151 and 152 to alter a pleader's fee expressly fixed in the judgment, because that would amount to a substantive change rather than correction of a clerical mistake; the proper remedy is review or appeal.

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Issues: (i) Whether the suit fell within the scope of Section 92 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 so as to require the sanction of the Advocate-General; (ii) Whether the decree could be amended under Sections 151 and 152 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 to alter the pleader's fee fixed in the judgment.

Issue (i): Whether the suit fell within the scope of Section 92 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 so as to require the sanction of the Advocate-General.

Analysis: The plaint proceeded on the footing that the defendants were trustees of a public religious trust and sought declarations regarding the trust character of the fund, an account of the funds collected, directions for their proper destination, and appointment of a receiver. The material test was whether the suit, as framed in the plaint, answered the description of a suit under Section 92. A suit of this nature, alleging breach of trust and seeking reliefs against trustees or persons treated as trustees, falls within the section. The inclusion of a prayer for declaration of the trust nature of the funds did not take the case out of the statutory category. The suit was not one for recovery of trust property from strangers, but one against persons asserted to be trustees.

Conclusion: The suit was rightly held to fall within Section 92 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, and was not maintainable without the sanction of the Advocate-General.

Issue (ii): Whether the decree could be amended under Sections 151 and 152 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 to alter the pleader's fee fixed in the judgment.

Analysis: The judgment had expressly fixed the pleader's fee at a specified amount. An amendment of the decree to substitute a different fee would not merely correct an accidental omission or clerical error, but would change the judgment itself. Where the grievance is that the judgment fixed an erroneous fee, the proper remedies are review or appeal. The inherent or corrective powers under Sections 151 and 152 cannot be used to replace those specific remedies or to grant relief that in substance requires reconsideration of the judgment on merits.

Conclusion: The amendment of the decree was not permissible under Sections 151 and 152 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, and the original decree had to be restored.

Final Conclusion: The suit remained non-maintainable for want of sanction, and the attempted alteration of the decree could not stand, with costs following against the appellants.

Ratio Decidendi: In determining whether Section 92 applies, the plaint must be examined to see whether the reliefs are directed against trustees or persons treated as trustees in respect of a public trust; and Sections 151 and 152 cannot be used to substitute for review or appeal by effecting a substantive change in the judgment.

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