HITESH ASHOKKUMAR BHATIA Vs. NISHI ANIL BHATIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a Petition under Section 53 of the Indian Trusts Act, 1882. The Petitioner Hitesh Bhatia, a trustee of a private family trust, seeks to purchase the share of the Respondent, Nishi Anil Bhatia, one of the several benefciaries of that trust. The fathers of these parties, Ashokkumar Bhatia and Anil Bhatia respectively, are brothers. The Petitioner and the Respondent are the grandchildren of Hukumchand and Tarabai Bhatia. Hukumchand, Sureshchandra and Ashokkumar set up the Tarabai Bhatia Family Trust. Hitesh is both a benefciary and a trustee of this trust. Nishi is also a benefciary, but not a trustee. Hukumchand and Tarabai had another son, Sureshchandra, and a daughter named Nirmal. A family tree is annexed.

(2.) Paragraph 3 of the Petition set outs the relevant narrative regarding the establishment and setting up of the family trust. It seems that the trust also acquired an interest in an immovable property at Cinema Road, Mumbai in 1968. There is a building on this plot known as Ram Mansion. The building is of ground and fve foors with a partial construction on the sixth foor. There are several tenements and units that serve as godowns, commercial premises and residential tenements. Over time, some portions of this building have been sold to others, and therefore, do not continue as trust property. There is no dispute today about this state of affairs regarding Ram Mansion.

(3.) Hukumchand died in 1979, Tarabai in April 2000 and Anil in November 2010. Anil was survived by his wife Archana and their daughter Nishi. Anil and Archana also had a son Ashit, who passed away in January 2002. Archana herself died in November 2018. Sureshchandra died in 1991.