39.
| (1) Subject to the provisions of subsection (2), the Commissioner upon a direction given by the board in that behalf in respect of a Muslim charitable trust or wakf, or any five persons interested in that trust or wakf, may, without joining as plaintiff any other person so interested, institute an action in the District Court of the district in which the whole or any part of the subject-matter of that trust or wakf is situated, to obtain a decree providing for all or any of the following purposes: -
| | (a) removing from office any trustee of the trust or wakf; | | |
| | (b) appointing, where necessary, a trustee or trustee for the trust or wakf; | | |
| | (c) directing the submission of statements of accounts to the court or the board; | | |
| | (d) declaring what proportion of the property of the trust or wakf or of the interest therein shall be allocated to any specified object of the trust or wakf; | | |
| | (e) settling a scheme for the management of the trust or wakf; | | |
| | (f) directing the specific performance of any act by the trustee or trustees of the trust or wakf; | | |
| | (g) declaring any trustee of the trust or wakf guilty of any misfeasance, breach of trust or neglect of duty; | | |
| | (h) ordering the payment by any trustee of the trust or wakf of any sum to the funds of the trust or wakf by way of damages in respect of any misfeasance, breach of trust or neglect of duty: | | |
| | (i) enumerating the properties comprised in the trust or wakf; and | | |
| | (j) granting such further or other relief as the circumstances of the case may require. | | |
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| (2) No action other than an action instituted by the Commissioner shall be entertained by the District Court under this section unless the plaint in the action is accompanied by a certificate under the hand of the Commissioner that the action has been approved by the board. |
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| (3) The interest required in order to entitle any person to be one of the plaintiffs in any action instituted under this section need not be a pecuniary or immediate interest or such an interest as would entitle the person to take any part in the management or superintendence of the trust or wakf. |
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| (4) For the purposes of any action to be instituted on any date under this section, any person who-
| | (a) is the donor of any property subject to any Muslim charitable trust or wakf or is a direct male descendant of the donor, or | | |
| | (b) in the case of any Muslim charitable trust or wakf created partly for the benefit of a registered mosque, is a member of the jama'ath of that mosque, or | | |
| | (c) has, during a period of twelve months preceding that date, received any alms distributed by any trustee of a Muslim charitable trust or wakf or otherwise enjoyed the benefits of that trust or wakf, | | |
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| (5) Where five or more persons interested in a Muslim charitable trust or wakf have instituted an action under subsection (1), the withdrawal of one or more than one such person from the action shall not prevent the District Court from continuing and concluding that action, so long as at least one person who instituted the action continues to be a party. |
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| (6) When a trustee is removed from, or otherwise vacates, office, the other trustees shall, during the continuance of the vacancy, exercise the powers vested in, and perform the duties imposed on, trustees by or under this Act. |
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Sri Lanka Consolidated Acts