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CS Professional · CSR and Social Governance · Societies and Trusts

Mrs. Kulkarni is sole trustee of a trust holding twenty rented shops, with a duty to collect rents and pay them to the beneficiary. She engages a rent collector to collect rents from the tenants each month. The trust deed is silent on delegation. Is this a breach of the rule against delegation?

It is not a breach. Collecting rents is a merely ministerial task and is done in the regular course of business, so under Section 47 employing a proper person for it is not prohibited delegation. The trustee remains responsible for the discretionary duties of the office.

  1. AYes, because a trustee can never employ any agent
  2. BYes, unless the Court approves in advance
  3. CNo, because delegation is allowed only to a co-trustee
  4. DNo, because employing a proper person to collect rents is in the regular course of business and merely ministerialCorrect

Explanation

Section 47 bars delegation except in specified cases, including delegation in the regular course of business, and an attorney or proxy doing a merely ministerial act with no independent discretion is not a delegation. The illustration about fifty houses let at rents shows a trustee may employ a proper person to collect rents. Prior Court approval is not required.

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