TMI Blog2005 (4) TMI 293X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... . 2. Some of the material facts of the present case are as under :- 3. A private trust was floated known as SKEFKO Employees Benefit Trust. The said trust was constituted under a Deed of Trust dated 18-4-1973 and the main object of the said trust was to provide for various benefits to the employees of a company own as SKF Ball Bearing Company Private Limited. The trust was settled by the said company known as SKF Ball Bearing Company Private Limited. The name of the said company was subsequently changed to Skefko India Bearing Co. Limited. At the time when the trust was settled there were large number of employees who were beneficiaries in respect of the said trust. The names of the employees are given in Schedule A to the suit. The ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... manner in all respects as the Trustees in their discretion may think fit; Provided Always that the Trustees may at their discretion postpone the application of the whole or any part of the sums received at any particular time and apply the same at a later time. 8( a )The Trustees shall be entitled from time to time to add to the Initial List the name of any person who at the date of exercise of the power is an Employee as defined in Clause 1 hereof. Provided that the Trustees shall not however be under any duty to exercise the foregoing power if they shall not chose to do so. ( b )In the event of an Employee ceasing to be in the service or employment of the Settlor, for any reason whatsoever, one such Employee and his wife, dependant ch ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... and joined the then existing SKF Bearings India Limited. The said employees had resigned from their job from the settlor company to join the said public limited company known as SKF Bearings India Limited. 6. It is the case of the plaintiffs that on the said scheme of amalgamation becoming operative the said settlor company has stood dissolved and the said trust has come to an end and extinguished by virtue of clause 10 thereof and the trust corpus is required to be disbursed to the beneficiaries. The employees who were in employment prior to 1974-75 have staked their claim in respect of the said disbursement of the corpus of the trust and, therefore, the petitioners are required to file the present suits to determine the rights of th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... itled to the distribution of the corpus in the said fund because under clause 1( c ) the employees are defined in respect of those employees who are drawing gross emoluments of less than Rs. 1,600 per month. It has been contended by the learned counsel for the plaintiffs that clause 1( c ) read with clause 8( b ) of the said Trust Deed provides that in an event the employee ceasing to be in service of the settlor for any reason whatsoever then such employee and/or his dependants will ipso facto cease to be beneficiaries under the said trust. It is further contended by the learned counsel for the plaintiffs that from a bare reading of clause 8( b ) it is clear that those employees ceased to be in service prior to 1993 are not in any way en ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... titled to the said benefits. 9. Mr. Mudnaney, the learned counsel appearing for some of the other faction has contended that the said scheme must come into operation from the appointed date because that is the effective date and not from the date on which the sanction has been granted by the Court. According to him, thus two employees whose names are mentioned in Exhibit F will be entitled to the said benefits. 10. After considering the rival submissions of the parties, I am of the opinion that on the true and correct interpretation of the clause 1( a ), read with clause 8( b ), it is only those employees, who are in employment or service as on the date when the company is dissolved and ceases to be in existence will be entitled to ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ts of the said scheme. 11. Insofar as the second issue is concerned, I am of the opinion that the scheme must come into effect not from the date when the scheme is sanctioned by the Court but from the appointed date which is prescribed under the scheme itself and I am also fortified in my aforesaid views by the judgment of the Apex Court in the case of Marshall Sons Co. (India) Ltd. v. ITO [1997] 88 Comp. Cas. 528 and in which it has been held as under : "Every scheme of amalgamation of companies has necessarily to provide a date with effect from which the amalgamation/transfer shall take place. It is true that while sanctioning the scheme, it is open to the Company Court to modify the said date and prescribe such date of amalg ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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