According to Indian Trust Act, trust means an obligation annexed to the ownership of property, & arising out of a confidence reposed in & accepted by the owner for the benefit of another or for another and owner.

Or in other words, a trust is an acceptance of an obligation by a person in against of some property or funds to use it or hold it for the benefit for the person whom the trust is created for.

In England trustees are appointed invariably by the author of the trust under the instrument. But where necessary they may be appointed by the court.

When a person is appointed as a trustee, he is at liberty either to accept or not to accept the appointment. If he choses to accept it he becomes bound with the duties annexed to that office.

Generally, the trust deed lays down an elaborated provision for appointment, as well as discharge of trustees, which is ordinarily followed and there is no difficulty.

It is only when no such provision has been made or the provision is not complete or has become incapable of taking effect, that the question of how to appoint trustee becomes important.

It also needs to be considered in case of discharge of old trustee as to what is the effect of that discharge, or even appointment of new trustees on the trust.

Provision regarding all above matters have been made under Section 70-76 of Indian Trusts Act 1882, and these are almost identical with English law.

DISCHARGE OF TRUSTEES

According to Section 70 of Indian Trust Act, a trustee may be relieved from his office either by his death or by his discharge from office. Discharge from office may be affected either by retirement or by removal.

Section 71 says that a trustee may get discharged from his office in one of the following ways: –

• By extinction of the trust,
• By the completion of his duties under the trust,
• By such means or may be prescribed by the instrument of trust,
• By appointment of a new trustee under the Act or by order of court,
• By his own consent and of beneficiary.

APPOINTMENT OF A NEW TRUSTEE

Section 73 of the Indian Trust Act 1882 speaks regarding appointment of new trustee which stays that such appointment shall be made: –

• By the person, if any who is by the trust instrument nominated to appoint a new trustee.
• By the author of the trust if he be alive and competent to contract.
• By the surviving trustee.
• By the legal representative of the last surviving trustee.
• With the consent of the court, by the retiring trustee if they all retire simultaneously.
• With the consent of the court, by the last retiring trustee.

Rules for selecting new trustee

• The court will have regard to the wishes of the person by whom the trust has been created.
• The court will not appoint a person to be a trustee with a view to the interest of some of the person interested under the trust in opposition either to the wishes of the testator or to interest of beneficiary.
• The court will have regard to the question whether the appointment of the trustee will promote the purpose for which the trust was created.

Aishwarya Says:

I have always been against Glorifying Over Work and therefore, in the year 2021, I have decided to launch this campaign “Balancing Life”and talk about this wrong practice, that we have been following since last few years. I will be talking to and interviewing around 1 lakh people in the coming 2021 and publish their interview regarding their opinion on glamourising Over Work.

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