A move to reconstitute the board of governors of La Martiniere Calcutta and vest full authority on the bishop to nominate its members has raised questions about whether the proposal goes against the spirit of the 215-year-old will of founder Claude Martin.

Calcutta High Court will hear on October 14 a petition seeking such powers for the bishop.

The board of governors is supposed to have 12 ex-officio members, including the governor and the chief justice of the high court, provided they are Christians. Most seats in the board remain vacant because of this condition.

The current board comprises two ex-officio members - the bishop of Calcutta and the presbyter of St. Andrew's Church - and four additional members chosen by the duo. For 40-odd years, the board has effectively comprised these two ex-officio and four additional members.

Bengal last had a Christian governor in Anthony Lancelot Dias, who held that office from 1971 to 1977.

Sources said the change in the constitution of La Martiniere Calcutta's governing board was necessitated by the understanding that its decisions may not stand legal scrutiny in the absence of a majority in the panel.

The petition filed in the high court states: "Appropriate sanction and/or approval may be granted... (for) the reconstitution of the Board of Governors of La Martiniere, Calcutta... it is respectfully submitted that this Honourable Court may be graciously pleased to permit the present Board of Governors and in particular the Right Reverend Bishop of Calcutta to constitute the Ex-Officio Board of Governors from amongst respected personalities professing Christian religion."

The petition has been moved by the two current ex-officio members of the board, Reverend Ashoke Biswas, who is the bishop of the Calcutta diocese of the Church of North India, and Reverend Andrew Simick, presbyter, St. Andrew's Church.

The petition seeks the court's consent to make the governor, the chief justice, a puisne judge of the high court nominated by the chief justice, the advocate-general and the chief of the army's eastern command patrons of the La Martiniere schools.

Critics of the move allege that the proposed changes are meant to keep these potential board members out of the school's think tank and turn the governing body into a group handpicked by the bishop.

The management of the La Martiniere schools declined to comment on the reason for seeking these changes.

"We cannot say anything because the matter is sub judice," said Supriyo Dhar, the school's secretary and a signatory to the petition.

Maj. Gen. Claude Martin, who served in the British Armed Forces, had left Rs 3.5 lakh in his will to set up an educational institution in Calcutta. His will states: "I give and bequeath the sum of two hundred thousand Sicca Rupees to the town of Calcutta to be put at interest in government papers or the most secure mode possible and this principal interest to be put under the protection of Government or the Supreme Court that they may devise an institution the most necessary for the public good of the town of Calcutta or establishing a school to educate a certain number of children of any sex to a certain age..."

The Supreme Court of Judicature, in its decree of 1832, said: "(The) court doth further decree and declare that the following persons shall be ex-officio Governors of the said school: namely the Governor-General, the members of the council, the judges of the Supreme Court, the Bishop of Calcutta and the advocate-general..."

After Calcutta High Court was set up in 1862 and the Supreme Court shifted to Delhi, a decree was issued in 1918 that there would be 12 ex-officio governors in substitution of the earlier order.