Courts Supreme Court
Supreme Court: Trust is not a juristic person, cannot be accused
The case concerns whether a Trust can be arrayed as an accused in criminal proceedings arising from financial fraud allegations involving IMAP Limited.
The Supreme Court held that a Trust is not a juristic person and therefore cannot be prosecuted.
Who it concerns: Appellant: Madasa Masih-UI-Uloom Educational and Charitable Trust; Respondents: State of Karnataka & Ors.; Bench: Justices J. B. Pardiwala and K. Vinod Chandran.
What the court decided
- The Court held that a Trust is not a juristic person and cannot be arrayed as an accused.
- The Court directed that proceedings in Spl. C. No.1055 of 2019 pending before the LXXXI Additional City Civil and Sessions Judge, Bengaluru, shall not be proceeded with against the appellant Trust.
- The Court clarified that it interfered only to the extent of the Trust's liability, leaving proceedings against other accused unaffected.
- The appeal was allowed.
- Any pending applications were rejected.
Also in the document
- The Court followed the dictum in Sankar Padam Thapa v. Vijaykumar Dineshchandra Agarwal, which held that a Trust does not have separate legal existence and cannot sue or be sued.
- The Court noted that the obligation to maintain or defend suits lies with the Trustee, not the Trust itself.
- The prosecution against the second respondent (a Trustee) and other accused continues.
How this was written
An AI model running on our own computer read the government document and wrote this summary. No person has checked it.
✓ Figures checked. Every number in this summary was found in the document by an automated check.
That check compares numbers only. It cannot confirm that the wording says what the document says — so the original document is always the authority.
The original document
Supreme Court of India — orders & judgments
Court order · 15 Sep 2026
Read it here
Discussion
No one has discussed this document yet.