Evaluation and Reform of the Indian Trusts Act: Complete Notes (Part O)

Part O closes the series with an assessment of the Indian Trusts Act after more than 140 years and an agenda for reform. This consolidated note covers Topic 60.

1. The Record

The Act has been durable because it states sound principles briefly: the certainties, the duties of loyalty and care, the beneficiary's rights and remedies, and the protection of bona fide purchasers. Its adaptation to India, rejecting dual ownership and leaving endowments and waqf to their own law, has largely stood the test of time. Its default rules yield to the trust deed, which has let it support modern commercial trusts across capital markets, finance and employee benefits. The 2016 substitution of Section 20 shows that targeted reform works.

Its weaknesses are those of age: archaic provisions, no power to relieve honest trustees or approve variations, narrow delegation and remuneration rules, a closed list of implied trusts after the repeal of Section 94, undeveloped information rights, and, outside the Act, no central law or regulator for public trusts, non-arbitrable trust disputes and no register of trusts.

2. The Agenda

Route	Reforms
Amending the Act	Modernise language and remove obsolete provisions; power to relieve honest and reasonable trustees; court approved variation; duty of care, collective delegation and remuneration for professional trustees; clearer basis for constructive trusts; beneficiaries' information rights; digital assets
Beyond the Act	Central framework or model law for charitable trusts with a regulator; specialised forums or statutory arbitration for trust disputes; secure register of trusts and beneficial owners; consistency with the Income-tax Act, 2025

⚠ Key point

Part O in one line: the Indian Trusts Act's principled brevity has kept it serviceable for 140 years and allowed modern commercial trusts to grow on it, but it needs targeted modernisation on trustee relief, variation, delegation, remuneration, implied trusts and information rights, alongside a coherent national framework for charitable trusts, dispute resolution and transparency.