Determinate shares in deity trust: unspecified beneficiary proportions are treated as equal unless real discretion makes entitlements uncertain.

A trust for the benefit of five specified deities was held to attract assessment as a trust with determinate shares because, although the deed did not express individual proportions, general law treated the deities as taking equally when no shares were stated. The additional reference to other religious charities did not create a separate beneficiary or make the deities' entitlements indeterminate. Authorities on true discretionary trusts or mixed charitable objects were distinguished, as the trustee's limited discretion over ancillary charities did not affect the beneficiaries' core shares. The result was that section 21(4) of the Wealth-tax Act was inapplicable and the trust fell within section 21(1).

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Issues: Whether the assessee-trust was assessable under section 21(4) of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957, on the footing that the shares of the deities were indeterminate and unknown, or whether the shares had to be treated as equal and, therefore, determinate and known so as to attract section 21(1).

Analysis: The trust was found to be for the benefit of five deities forming Ganapati Panchayatan, and the additional reference to other religious charities was held not to create an independent beneficiary. The deed did not specify individual shares of the deities, but the general rule of construction was applied that where shares are not stated, beneficiaries take equally. Decisions holding equal allocation among deities where shares were unspecified were treated as applicable, while authorities dealing with true discretion to vary beneficiaries' entitlements or with mixed beneficiaries including impersonal charitable objects were distinguished. On that basis, the Court concluded that the beneficiaries' shares were not indeterminate merely because the trustee had some discretion as to ancillary religious charities.

Conclusion: The shares of the deities were determinate and known, so assessment under section 21(4) was not permissible; the case fell under section 21(1).

Ratio Decidendi: Where a trust is in substance for specified deities and their shares are not expressly stated, the shares are to be treated as equal under general law unless the deed confers a real discretion affecting the beneficiaries' entitlements so as to make the shares indeterminate.

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