Impleadment in trust loan sanction proceedings requires a present, legally recognised interest and cannot be used to revive management disputes.

Section 73A of the Maharashtra Public Trust Act allows impleadment only by a person having an interest in the public trust, and for a society or other trust that interest must be that of a member, trustee, or beneficiary. A beneficiary is confined to a person entitled to benefit under the trust objects. Proceedings under Section 36A(3) are limited to deciding whether borrowing is in the trust's interest and on what conditions sanction should be granted. Where an applicant lacks a subsisting qualifying interest and seeks mainly to reopen a management dispute, intervention is not justified because it would distort the limited statutory inquiry.

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Issues: Whether the petitioner, claiming to be an interested person, was entitled to be impleaded under Section 73A in proceedings for sanction to borrow money under Section 36A(3) of the Maharashtra Public Trust Act, 1950.

Analysis: Section 73A permits joinder only of a person having interest in the public trust. Under Section 2(10), the expression is of wide import, but in the case of a society or other public trust the relevant interest must be that of a member, trustee, or beneficiary. Section 2(2A) confines the term "beneficiary" to a person entitled to benefit under the objects of the trust. The nature of a proceeding under Section 36A(3) is limited to examining whether borrowing is in the interest or protection of the trust and whether sanction should be granted with appropriate conditions. The petitioner's application was directed principally at disputing the authority of the rival management and reopening the management dispute, rather than assisting determination of the loan application itself. In the absence of a subsisting membership or other qualifying interest, and given the risk of converting the sanction proceeding into a management dispute, no sufficient basis existed for impleadment.

Conclusion: The petitioner was not entitled to intervene or be impleaded in the proceeding under Section 36A(3).

Final Conclusion: The writ petition failed, and the refusal to permit intervention in the loan-sanction proceeding was upheld.

Ratio Decidendi: A person seeking impleadment under Section 73A must show a present and legally recognised interest in the trust, and such intervention will not be granted where the proceeding is of a limited statutory character and the applicant's grievance is substantially directed to the management dispute rather than the statutory question before the authority.

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