JYOTHI SURENDRAN Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Whether a beneficiary of a Trust is entitled to get a certified copy of the Trust deed from the concerned Sub Registry office under the provisions of the Registration Act, 1908 is the question to be considered in this Writ Petition. Petitioner is the beneficiary No. 19 in A.P.B. Family Trust, Kozhikode. The deed is registered as document No. 243/1983 of Kozhikode Sub Registry. The same is entered in book No. 4. According to the petitioner the Trust is not managed properly and she intends to file a suit under the Trusts Act for which an authenticated copy of the Trust deed is necessary. An application was filed before the second respondent. The same was returned stating that in view of the bar under Section 57(3) of the Act, the copy cannot be supplied, as can be seen from the endorsement made in Ext.P2.

(2.) Section 51 of the Act provides for register of books to be kept in the registration office:

(3.) Rule 176 deals with production of registered books in court for the purpose of proving a document. Here the petitioner proposes to institute a suit under the Trusts Act and her claim itself is rested on the Trust deed, she being beneficiary No. 19. Whether a certified copy should invariably be filed along with the plaint or whether it would be sufficient to indicate in whose possession the same is and would it be sufficient if the documents are called for under Rule 176 of the Rules is a different question altogether. The germane issue is whether the beneficiary of a Trust is a claimant under the deed. It cannot be disputed that once the Trust deed is duly executed, the beneficiary thereof is entitled to claim the benefits under the Trust. Therefore, it cannot be said that only the trustees are the claimants. The expression "any person executing or claiming under the documents" as appearing under Section 57(3) of the Act has to be taken to mean in respect of a Trust deed which is entered under Book 4 as including a person claiming any benefit under a registered Trust. Since there is no dispute that the petitioner claims certain benefits under the Trust deed, certified copy of which is applied for as per Ext.P2, she is entitled to get a certified copy of the deed under Section 57(3) of the Act. The endorsement in Ext.P2 is quashed. There will be a direction to the second respondent to issue a certified copy of the Trust deed referred to in the application to the petitioner, subject to the petitioner satisfying the required other conditions contemplated under Section 57 of the Act.