: 1 : IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY ORDINARY ORIGINAL CIVIL JURISDICTION TRUST PETITION NO.6 OF 2007 Michael Owen & Ors. ....Petitioners V/s. The State of Maharashtra ....Respondent Mr.Shailesh Shukla i/b AZB & Partner for the Petitioner. Mr.D.A. Nalawade, Government Pleader with Ms.Uma P. Desai, AGP for the Respondent. CORAM : S.J. VAZIFDAR, J. DATED : 4TH AUGUST, 2008. P.C. : 1. The Petitioners seek the sanction of this Court to amend the trust deed. By an Indenture dated 10.5.1990, the Settlor declared that he had handed over to the trustees a sum of Rs.10,000/- and all estate, right, title, interest, property, claim and demand in and to the said sums. 2. Clause (b) of the Indenture reads as under :- "The "The "The Beneficiaries" Beneficiaries" Beneficiaries" shall mean the children, a list whereof is set out in the Schedule hereunder written and any other child or children of any person who is a citizen of the United States of America as also any child or children of any other person who is a citizen of a foreign State in India being an inhabitant or resident at Bombay or any other place in India on the date of these presents or at any time or from time to time : 2 : hereafter on the date of these presents and/or at any time or from time to time hereafter, but shall not include any children of Indian Nationality or children both of whose parents are citizens of India." 3. By the amendment the Petitioners seek to delete the portion after the words "child or children" and substitute the same with the words "as per the guidelines laid down by the Ministry of External Affairs and/or as the Trustees lay down from time to time". There can be no objection to the amendment. It increases the beneficiaries of the trust to other children as well. This is clear further from the discretion granted to the trustees by the proposed amendment. 4. At the end of clause 2 the following clause is sought to be added :- "The Trust shall exist for the purpose of providing education to the Beneficiaries and conducting activities which are ancillary thereto and not for the purpose of earning profit. The Trust shall operate under the Ministry of External Affairs approval as long as it is governed by the Ministry of External Affairs." I see no objection to this amendment either. It does not affect the rights of the beneficiaries in any manner. : 3 : 5. In clause 11 the amendments merely regulate/pertain to the number of trustees. No additional benefit in terms of numbers is granted to citizens of the United States of America. The composition of the Board of Directors is also sought to be amended. There is nothing adverse to the beneficiaries in these amendments. The amendments regulating the meetings and deletion of the power to appoint a Chairman when the office of the Consul General is vacant does not adversely effect the trust or the beneficiary thereof. Nor does the conferment of power on the Consul General of the U.S.A. to appoint his/her nominee do so. 6. There is no affidavit in reply. There is nothing on record which warrants a refusal/rejection of the modifications sought. 7. In the circumstances, the Petition is made absolute in terms of prayer (a). The Petitioner shall pay the costs to the Respondent fixed at Rs.5000/- within eight weeks from today.