DEED OF TRUST

THIS DEED OF PUBLIC TRUST is made at New Delhi on this the September 11th day of Two Thousand and Three BETWEEN National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, a corporation established by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development Act, 1981 having Head Office at C-24, ‘G’ Block, Bandra Kurla Complex, P.B.No.8121, Bandra ( East ) Mumbai-400051 through its authorised official Shri Gopal Krishna Agrawal, Executive Director, NABARD as the ‘SETTLOR’ (hereinafter referred to as NABARD ) ( which expression shall unless it is repugnant to the meaning or context thereof would mean and include its successors and assigns )of the ONE PART;

AND

(1) Shri L.V. Saptharishi, S/O Late Shri L.K. Vaidhyanathan, aged 58 years, and residing at M-88, second floor, Greater Kailash, New Delhi, being the Additional Secretary of the Department of Commerce.

(2) Shri S.K. Arora, S/O Shri G.L. Arora, aged 55 years, and residing at C-II / 64, Bapa Nagar, New Delhi-110 003 being the AS&FA, of the Department of Commerce.

(3) Shri Subir Kumar Mitra, S/O Shri Brajendra Nandan Mitra, aged 50 years, and residing at B-18-19, Krishi Vikas Sadan, Veer Savarkar Marg, Dadar (W), Mumbai-400 028, being the Executive Director of the NABARD.

(4) Shri N. Srinivasan, S/O Shri S. Narasimhan, aged 49 years, and residing at A6.22, NABARD Park, S.V. Road, Santacruz (W), Mumbai 400 054, being the Chief General Manager of the NABARD.

(5) Shri P.K. Dash S/O Shri S.Dash, aged 49 years, and residing at A33, Asiad Village Complex, New Delhi-110 049, being the Chief Executive Officer of the Price Stabilisation Fund, Department of Commerce,

(Hereinafter referred to as “The Trustees”), which expression shall unless it is repugnant to the meaning or context thereof would mean and include the Trustee or Trustees appointed from time to time or survivor or survivors of them, of the ‘OTHER PART’-

WHEREAS:

1. Department of Commerce, Government of India (hereinafter referred to as the Central Government) is deeply concerned with the problems faced by the farmers/growers of coffee, tea, rubber, tobacco due to continued poor realisation of price and other problems in production and marketing of these commodities and has proposed to establish a Fund by way of public trust to sort out their problems.

2. Accordingly, in pursuant to the decision of the Central Government, Department of Commerce has formulated a Scheme to be known as the “Price Stabilisation Fund Scheme” (hereinafter referred to as PSF Scheme).

3. As per the said Scheme, a corpus of Rs.500 crore will be kept in public account of Government of India and the interest thereon will be released to the Trust Fund being established by NABARD for operationalising the scheme.

4. In pursuance of the decision of the Central Government, NABARD is desirous of establishing as SETTLOR, a Trust to be known as the “Price Stablisation Fund Trust” by way of public trust with the Fund agreed to be released to it from time to time by the Central Government under the said Scheme to ameliorate

the problems faced by the farmers/growers of the aforesaid plantation/agricultural crops and improve their financial position.

5. The First Trustees have agreed to act as Trustees of the said “Fund” in accordance with the terms and conditions of these presents.

NOW THIS INDENTURE WITNESSETH AS UNDER:1. Constitution of Fund by way of Trust:

1.1 The NABARD hereby establish a Trust called the “Price Stabilisation Fund Trust” by way of Public trust and transfers to the Trustees a sum of Rs.1,00,000/- (Rupees One Lakh only) being a corpus to be held by the Trustees by way of a trust for benefit of the beneficiaries hereinafter given. This Trust shall be known as the “Price Stabilisation Fund Trust” ( hereinafter referred to as the Trust).

1.2 The area of operation of the Trust will be the whole of India.

1.3 The Principal Office of the Trust will be at 1st Floor, ‘C’ Wing, Nirman Bhavan, New Delhi. The Trustees may open local offices or branches at different places within the area of operation.

1.4 No monies belonging to the said Trust Fund in the hands of the Trustees shall be recoverable by the NABARD nor shall the NABARD have any claim lien or charge on any of the Trust properties.

1.5 The entire sums in cash or other form/s or other assets retained by the Trustees in the account of the said Fund shall constitute the property of the Trust and shall be owned by the Trustees for benefit of the beneficiaries.

1.6 The Trustees shall own, hold and manage the properties of the Trust in accordance with the provisions of these presents and in accordance with law relating to trusts.

2. Objective of the Trust:To provide support to needy farmers/growers of coffee, tea, rubber and tobacco in problems related to production, pricing and marketing of these commodities through scheme/schemes drawn by the High Powered Committee from time to time and improve their financial position.

3. Beneficiaries of the Trust:Needy farmers/growers engaged in cultivation of coffee, tea, rubber and tobacco in India.

4. Management of Fund through a Board of Trustees:

4.1 The Trust shall be managed by a Board of Trustees (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Board’) consisting of not less than 3 and not more than 7 Trustees. The Trustees shall be appointed by NABARD with approval of the Central Government after obtaining their consent to act as Trustee. The first Board of the Trust shall be as under:

1.Shri L.V. SAPTHARISHI, Chairman Additional Secretary (in Charge of Plantation)Deptt. of Commerce, Govt. of India

2. Shri S.K. ARORA, MemberAS & FA, Dept. of CommerceGovt. of India 

3. Shri S.K. MITRA, MemberExecutive Director, NABARD 

4. Shri N. SRINIVASAN Member Chief General Manager, NABARD

5. Shri P.K. DASH Member SecretaryChief Executive Officer, PSF OfficeDeptt. of Commerce, Govt. of India

4.2 In the absence of the Chairman of the Trust, AS & FA, Dept.of Commerce, one of the Trustees of the Fund will act as Chairman and perform his duties and functions in the Trust. 

4.3 NABARD in consultation with Central Government may appoint a suitable person as Chief Executive Officer and Trustee (hereinafter referred to as the Executive Trustee). The Executive Trustees may be replaced from time to time by NABARD in consultation with Central Government. The Executive Trustee shall be responsible for day-to-day administration and management of the Trust and shall act as per the directions of the Board of Trustees . Shri P. K. Dash is designated as the first Executive Trustee of the PSF Trust in consultation with the Central Government.

4.4 The Trustees of the Fund shall ordinarily be resident of India.

The office of the Trustee shall be treated as vacated if he/she:

- dies- ceases to hold the office by virtue of which he/she wasappointed- becomes insane- becomes bankrupt / insolvent- becomes infirm / incapable of functioning due to ill health- does not attend three consecutive meetings of the Trust, without permission from Chairman or- if he is convicted of any offence involving moral turpitude.

4.5 A Trustee may resign at any time after giving thirty days’ notice in writing to the Chairman of the Board as Trustee of his intention to do so.

4.6 NABARD in consultation with Central Government shall have powers to fill up any vacancy of the Board as and when occurs. Pending the filling up of any vacancies of Trustees, the remaining Trustees shall have powers to act on behalf of the Trust. No decision of the Trust shall be considered void on the ground merely of the existence of any vacancy in or any defect in the constitution of the Board.

5. Meeting of the Board of Trustees

5.1 The Board shall at least meet on quarterly basis.

5.2 The meeting of the Board shall be convened by the Executive Trustee in consultation with the Chairman/alternate Chairman, as the case may be and in his absence by the Executive Trustee and shall be ordinarily held at New Delhi, but if so decided by the Board shall be held at any other place in India. 

5.3 Any two Trustees may for the purpose of consideration of the business to be specified in their requisition, require the Chairman to convene the meeting of the Board and the Chairman shall, on receipt of such requisition, convene the meeting of the Board after giving sufficient notice of 14 days provided that the date of the meeting so convened shall not be later than 21 days from the date of the requisition.

5.4 Except in respect of the first meeting of the Board, ordinarily, not less than one clear fortnight’s notice shall be given in respect of each meeting of the Board and such notice shall be sent to every Trustee at his address on record with the Trust. However, if considered necessary to convene an emergency meeting of the Trust, the notice of not less than 3 clear (except weekend and public holidays) days shall be given to every Trustee who is at that time in India to enable him to attend the emergency meeting.

5.5. Except with the consent of the Chairman no business other than for which the meeting has been convened shall be discussed at the meeting of the Board.

5.6 Three Trustees shall form quorum for transaction of the business at the meeting of the Board.

5.7 A copy of the proceedings of each meeting of the Board shall be circulated for information of the Trustees as soon as possible after the minutes of that meeting are signed by the Chairman.

5.8 Fee, allowance payable to the Trustees, if any, shall be decided by the NABARD in consultation with the Central Government from time to time.

6. Operation of the Fund

6.1 The Fund shall be operated by the Board of Trustees to realise and fulfill the objectives of the Trust in the exclusive interest of the beneficiaries. All the expenses of the Trust shall be borne out of income of the corpus, annual payments made by the Central Government under Scheme and other resources available to it. The Board of Trustees shall be guided by the High Powered Committee set up by the Central Government in terms of Order No. 3/9/2003-Plant ( C ) dated 29April,2003 in regard to matters of policy.

6.2 If, any question arises as to whether any such direction relates to the matters of policy or formulation and implementation of the scheme/s in the interest of the beneficiaries, the decision of the NABARD arrived in concurrence with the Central Government shall be final.

7. Powers and functions of the Board of Trustees:

7.1 All the powers available to the Trustees in relation to the trust shall vest in the Board of Trustees.

7.2 The Board shall take all legitimate steps for proper administration of the Fund in the interest of the beneficiaries and supervise, manage, develop and invest all the properties of the Fund in a prudent manner. While doing so, the Trustees shall ensure that corpus of the Fund is invested in safe and secured manner as per the requirements of law applicable to the trusts.

7.3 Without prejudice to the generality of powers and functions of the Board to manage and administer the Trust, the Board shall have the following powers:-

(i) to accept any donation, contribution in cash or kind from any person or association of persons, institutions or trust ( including the Central Government, State Government, commercial banks, financial institutions, bilateral/multilateral donors, autonomous organizations, statutory bodies, etc.) for the furtherance of the objectives of this Trust.

(ii) to borrow from any person, commercial banks, financial institutions, bilateral/multilateral donors, autonomous organizations, statutory bodies, institution or Government, etc. against the securities or the assets of the Trust or otherwise as may be necessary for furtherance of the objectives of the Trust subject to terms and conditions as may be agreed upon in consultation with the Central Government.

(iii) to arrange for or authorize for signing or execution of any agreement, contract, instrument, documents or any other paper required to be signed or executed on behalf of the Trust, or Trustees, by the Executive Trustee along with any one of the Trustees to be nominated in this behalf by the Board and make the same effective and binding as if the said agreement, contract, instrument or documents or papers were signed by all the Trustees.

(iv) to appoint or make provisions for appointment of sub committee of Trustees or others to attend to or supervise or conduct specific objectives, scheme/s or functions in such manner and subject to such conditions as the Board may specify.

(v) to authorize one or more Trustees to hold any asset or any fund or any investment of the Trust subject, however, to the terms of those presents in such manner and subject to such terms and conditions as the Board may specify from time to time.

(vi) to appoint secretaries, managers and other staff for implementation or administration of the fund and the schemes related to the Trust.

(vii) to engage lawyers, solicitors, consultants, advisors to protect the properties of the Fund in litigation etc., or other proceedings and to ensure that the benefit of the Fund reaches the needy farmers/growers.

(viii) to join, cooperate, amalgamate, the Trust created by these presents or any portion thereof with any public trust or institution having allied or other objectives with prior approval of NABARD and the Central Government.

(ix) incur expenditure on publicity, dissemination, meetings, seminars, visits, study, consultation etc. in furtherance of the scheme/schemes of the Trust to meet its objectives.

(x) to do all such other things as may be considered necessary or incidental to management of the Trust for furtherance of its objectives.

8. Audit and Accounts:

8.1 The Board of Trustees shall cause the accounts of the Trust to be audited by a Chartered Accountant for every financial year (April to March) and in such manner as may be directed by the Central Government.

8.2 The Trustees shall give true and accurate accounts of all monies received and spent and all matters in respect thereof in course of management of trust properties or in relation with carrying out the objectives and purpose of the Trust as well as all the assets, liabilities related to the Trust properties. A copy of the same shall be furnished to the Central Government and NABARD on or before 30th June of the year.

9. Liabilities of the Trustees:

9.1 The Trustees shall be liable only to the extent of the monies available or coming into their hands as Trustee. 

9.2 No Trustee would be liable for the act, omission, defaults of any other Trustee or for any loss experienced by the Trust on account of any error of bonafide judgement on his part or for any other loss or damage whatsoever shall occur in relation to the execution of his duties as a Trustee or in relation thereto unless the same be caused by willful act or omission on part of the Trustee.

10. Revocation of the Trust:After ten years from the date of coming into force of this Trust Deed or earlier, the Trust shall be revocable at the instance of NABARD in concurrence with the Central Government, and the surplus Fund, assets and other properties of the Trust shall be transferred to another Trust having similar objects or shall vest in the Central Government.

11. Stipulations made by Income Tax Authorities:Notwithstanding anything contained herein above, the conditions, if any , stipulated by the Income Tax Authorities whilegranting exemption/rebate relating to tax in respect of this Trust, shall prevail over the provisions of these presents and the same shall be treated as part and parcel of this Deed of Trust.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF THE PARTIES HAVE SET THEIR RESPECTIVE HANDS AND SEAL ON THE DATE AND YEAR FIRST ABOVE WRITTEN.

SIGNED SEALED AND DELIVERED

BY NATIONAL BANK FOR AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT

THROUGH THE HAND OF

SHRI G.K. AGRAWAL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NABARD

( Signature )

Authorised Official

Accepted Trustees

Name Signature 

1. Shri L V Saptharishi

2. Shri S K Arora

3. Shri Subir Kumar

4. Shri N Srinivasan

5. Shri P K Dash

WITNESSES

1. Ms Priya Kumar

2. Shri S K Dhingra