Rights of Trustees u/n Indian Trust Act 1882

Sec 31 -35
 To ascribe a right to a person is to imply that some other
person is under a corresponding duty.
 Rights constitute the correlatives of duties, in its generic
sense it connotes and may be defined as any advantage or
benefit conferred upon a person by a rule of law.
 A right exists when law limits the liberty of others in my
behalf, and a power exists when law actively assist me in
making my will effective.
 In other words, what others ought to do towards me is
my right; what I may do innocently is my liberty ; but what
I can do effectively is my power.
 A trustee has one supreme and extraordinary right, and
that is a right conferred by law upon him that he can give
a valid title to a bonafide purchaser from him without
notice even though his act of alienation may be one
resulting from his breach of trust.
 He has also those rights which a trust instrument confers
upon him or which are given to him or recognised by
equity, which he is to exercise for the benefit of the
beneficiaries.
 The Indian Trust Act confers right upon him under
Section 31 to 35 of the Act.
Section 31. Right to title-deed
 A trustee is entitled to have in his possession the
instrument of trust and all the documents of title (if
any) relating solely to the trust-property.

 [when a trust is created there must be a transfer of property

to the trustee or else no trust comes into existence. When
the title deeds to property are not delivered up to the trustee,
a trustee has a right to secure them so that the same may not
be used otherwise and so that he can be safe and the property
secured.]
 The right is in continuation of Section 13 which places an
obligation on the trustee to protect title to trust property and
to maintain and defend suits thereto.
Walker v Linom [1907] 2 Ch 104
 Trustee is duty bound to have possession of title deeds
and becomes responsible for the loss of property that
may be caused due to non-possession of title deeds.
 Held- The trustee had failed to secure the title deeds on
the property and the actual owner had fraudulently
mortgaged the property.
 Trustee were held guilty for negligence.
Section 32.
Right To Reimbursement Of Expenses

 Every trustee may reimburse himself, or pay or

discharge out of the trust-property, all
expenses properly incurred in or about
 the execution of the trust, or
 the realization, preservation, or benefit of the
trust-property, or
 the protection or support of the beneficiary.
 If he pays such expenses out of his own pocket
he has a first charge upon the trust-property
for such expenses and interest thereon;
 but such charge (unless the expenses have
been incurred with the sanction of a principal
Civil Court of original jurisdiction) shall be
enforced only by prohibiting any disposition of
the trust-property without previous payment
of such expenses and interest.
 If the trust-property fail, the trustee is entitled
to recover from the beneficiary personally on
whose behalf he acted, and at whose request,
expressed or implied, he made the payment,
the amount of such expenses.

 Right to be recouped for erroneous over-

payment.
 Where a trustee has by mistake made an over-
payment to the beneficiary, he may reimburse
the trust-property out of the beneficiary's
interest.
 If such interest fail, the trustee is entitled to
recover from the beneficiary personally the
amount of such overpayment.
 [ To be recoverable, such charges must fulfill two
conditions – they must be in execution of the
trust and – they must be reasonable and not
speculative or oppressive.]

 Expenses not allowed to trustee:

 Interest on costs incurred by him for the trust management. (Gorden v
Trail)
 Instituting Legal proceedings necessitated because of his own negligence.
(Caffrey v Darby)
 No remuneration for conducting business for the trust. (Barrett v Hartley)