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Showing contexts for: powers of a trustee in Tvs Shriram Growth Fund, Chennai vs Ito, Chennai on 7 June, 2017Matching Fragments
"Power of Addition
7. (a) The trustee shall have the power at any time or times during the trust period to add as beneficiaries such one or more persons or class of persons as the trustee shall in their absolute discretion determine.
(b) Any such addition shall be made by deed signed by the trustee and :
(i) naming or describing the person or persons or class of persons to be added as beneficiaries;
(ii) specifying the date (not being earlier than the date of the deed but during the trust period) from which such person or persons to be thereby added as beneficiaries; and
(citing O.P. Agarwalla on Trust, p. 220-2), he also expressed his willingness to modify cl. 7(a) as follows in order to obviate any kind of objection :-
"7.(a) The trustee shall during the trust period, have the power at their discretion to admit as beneficiary any institutional investor which agrees to enter into a contribution agreement."
and, consequent on the above, to insert a definition of the expression "institutional investor" in cl. 1 to the following effect :
(emphasis supplied)
47. We agree with the aforesaid observations of the AAR and we proceed further to decide the various issues raised by the Revenue in its appeal.
48. Private Trusts could be Fixed or Discretionary Trusts. A fixed trust is a trust in which the beneficiaries have a current fixed entitlement to such income as remains after proper exercise of the trustee's powers. On the other hand, a discretionary trust is one in which the beneficiaries have no such current fixed entitlement, but only a hope (spes) that the trustees in carrying out their duty to consider how much income might be paid to such beneficiaries will in their discretion pay that income to a particular beneficiary or ITA Nos.1345 & 1401/Mds/2016 & ITA Nos.1902, 981 & 982/Mds/2016 :- 21 -:
lays down that the redemption of units by the beneficiary shall be at the sole discretion of the Trustees in consultation with the investment manager.
56. In the light of the aforesaid clauses in the contribution agreement, can it be said that transfer of funds by the beneficiary to the trust/fund is a revocable transfer?
57. The answer to the above question cannot be given by merely reading the clauses in the contribution agreement alone. The contention of the learned counsel for the Assessee before us was that the Contribution agreement has to be read along with the Trust Deed as well as the Investment Management agreement and offer document for private placement issued by the Investment Manager. Article-13 of the Trust Deed provides for termination of the Trust. Though such a power is not with the beneficiary/transferor, it is not the requirement of Sec.61 that the power of revocation must be at the instance of the beneficiary/transferor. The power of revocation under Clause13 of the Deed of Trust is a general power of revocation and the same would be sufficient for construing the transfer in the present case as a revocable transfer. As rightly contended by the learned counsel for the Assessee it is not necessary that the power of revocation should be at the instance of the contributors/beneficiaries/ transferor and it can be at the instance of any person either settlor, trustee, transferee or the beneficiaries. Provisions of Sec.61 of the Act do not contemplate a power of revocation only at the instance of the transferor. In this regard the reliance placed by the learned counsel for the Assessee on the observations of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Surat Art Silk Cloth Mfrs. Association (supra) support the plea taken by him. As rightly contended by him the existence of a power to revoke the transfer that has to be seen and not the manner in which/ or at whose instance such revocation is brought about.