A Bill to regulate public trusts in Tamil Nadu was tabled in the Assembly on Wednesday. At present, public trusts of a charitable nature, other than Hindu religious endowments and Waqfs, are under the Charitable and Religious Trusts Act, 1920, which provides for only limited purposes. The State government has decided to regulate the trusts, with provisions for various factors, including registration of trusts, management of their property, audit and control over their administration.
Public trusts must be registered under the Tamil Nadu Public Trusts Act, 2020. A person will be disqualified as trustee of a public trust for various reasons, including if he has been convicted by a criminal court for any offence or dismissed from service under Central or State government authorities.
The Registrar has been entrusted with powers, including inspection of properties belonging to a public trust and inspection of proceedings of trustees or accounts in the control of trustees.
‘Ensuring accountability’
Law Minister C.Ve. Shanmugam told the Assembly that the government intended to ensure that those with a criminal history were not holding posts in public trusts, and, hence, an Act was necessary.
DMK MLA S. Regupathy (Thirumayam), who opposed the legislation in the introductory stage, contended that the legislation only meant the renewal of hundreds of trusts whose founders and founding trustees would not be the same anymore. It would only mean all those trusts would have to register, yet again, he said.
However, Mr. Shanmugam pointed out that the Indian Trusts Act, 1882, was sufficient for private trusts, while there was no clear Act for managing public trusts. This led to several accountability issues among public trusts, he added.
The intention of the government was to ensure clear rules for managing public trusts and frame eligibility criteria for chairpersons and members of such trusts, the Minister said.
