Report No. 17
Section 34.- For section 34 of the principal Act, the following section shall be substituted, namely:-
"34. Right to apply to court for opinion.-(1) Any trustee or beneficiary may, without instituting a suit, apply by petition to the district court for-
(a) its opinion on any question affecting the rights and interests of any other person claiming to be a beneficiary;
(b) a direction-(i) for the furnishing of any particular accounts by the trustee and the vouching, when necessary, of such accounts, or (ii) for the auditing of any particular accounts in a manner to be specified by the court;
(c) a direction to the trustee to do or abstain from doing any particular act in his character as such trustee;
(d) its opinion, advice or direction on any other present question respecting the management or administration of the trust property.
[Cf. existing section 34, 1st para]
(2) Notice of such petition shall be served upon, and the hearing thereof may be attended by, such of the persons interested in the application as the court thinks fit.
[Cf. existing section 34, 2nd para.]
(3) Where the trustee is a respondent, the issue of summons on such petition shall not interfere with or control any power or discretion vested in the trustee, except in so far as such interference or control is necessarily involved in the particular relief sought.
(4) The jurisdiction of the court on a petition made under this section shall not extend to the determination of-
(a) questions involving charges of breach of trust, unless the parties have consented;
(b) claims made adversely to the trust;
(c) questions of detail, difficulty or importance not proper in the opinion of the court for summary disposal.
[Cf. existing section 34, 1st para.]
(5) The trustee stating in good faith the facts in such petition and acting upon the opinion, advice or direction given by the court shall be deemed, so far as regards his own responsibility, to have discharged his duty as such trustee in the subject-matter of the application.
[Cf. existing section 34, 3rd para]
(6) An order made under this section shall be binding, subject to the result of any appeal under sub-section (9), on all persons who are parties to the proceedings and on all persons on whom notice is served under sub-section (2).
(7) The court may, in a proceeding under this section, take evidence, if it thinks necessary, and after hearing the parties or the persons interested or their pleaders, shall pass such order as it thinks fit.
(8) The costs of every petition under this section shall be in the discretion of the court to which it is made.
[Cf. section 34, 4th para.]
(9) Against an order made by the court under this section, an appeal shall lie to the court to which appeals ordinarily lie from the decrees of that court.
(10) The provisions of this section shall apply, as far as may be, to proceedings before the court under sections1 11, 22, 32, 36, 41, 45, 46, 49, 53, 59, 72, 73, 73A and 74."
1. Section 34A, proposed to be added, is not mentioned here, as that section refers back to section 34. Section 50 speaks of a "contract" and hence has not been mentioned here.
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