DEVIN JETHANAND BHOJWANI & 2 Ors v JETHANAND HARKISHINDAS BHOJWANI

Q: Which legislation does [2024] SGHC 310 consider?

The judgment refers to Companies Act (Cap 50), Limitation Act (Cap 163), Trustees Act (Cap 337), and Trustees Act which provides that powers conferred on trustees under the Trustees Act (Cap 337). The statutes cited are listed in full on this page, each linking to its primary text.

[2024] SGHC 310 High Court (General Division) 5 December 2024 • HC/S 521/2021 • 207 min read

58 cases cited (37 SG, 21 foreign) Cited by 2 cases

Key facts

Court	High Court (General Division)
Decided	5 December 2024
Judge	Goh Yihan
Charges / claim	Trusts, Equity, Civil Procedure, Succession and Wills
Counsel	Damodara Ong LLC, Robertson Chambers LLC, TSMP Law Corporation, Carmen Lee Jia Wen, Choo Jit Kim Perl, Koh Li Qun Kelvin, Lim Dao Yuan Keith, Ng Qiheng Glenn, Nguyen Vu Lan, Sun Lupeng Cedric, Tan Li-Chern Terence, Thio Shen Yi, Uday Duggal

Source: [2024] SGHC 310, High Court (General Division), decided 5 December 2024 — eLitigation. Updated 25 June 2026.

Catchwords

Trusts — Trustees — Duties — Common law duty of care to manage and administer trust as ordinary prudent man of business would Trusts — Trustees — Duties — Statutory duty of care to exercise such care and skill as is reasonable in circumstances when exercising general power of investment — Section 3A Trustees Act 1967 (2020 Rev Ed) Equity — Remedies — Account — Account on wilful default basis — Applicable test for showing wilful default of trustee — Whether trustee displayed want of ordinary prudence in conduct and administration of trust Civil Procedure — Pleadings — Amendment — Principles applicable to grant of permission to amend pleadings — Whether to allow amendment of reply close to start of civil trial where amendment is responsive to pleading in amended defence Equity — Maxims — Defences — Whether beneficiaries alleging breaches of trust came to court of equity with clean hands — Relationship between clean hands doctrine in equity and Ochroid Trading approach to illegality doctrine in common law Succession and Wills — Construction — Application of armchair principle to construction of meaning of testament constituting express testamentary trust — Whether testament on proper construction conferred power on trustee to effect conversion of preference share in company held on trust into ordinary share notwithstanding trustee holds ordinary shares in same company as absolute owner Equity — Fiduciary relationships — Fiduciary relationship of trustee and beneficiary — Whether fiduciary breached no-conflict rule — Whether fiduciary placed himself in position where duty to principal and personal interest may conflict in approving amendment to company constitution negating rights of trust property in form of preference share whilst holding ordinary shares in same company as absolute owner Trusts — Breach of trust — Remedies — Remedy of falsification — Application of remedy of falsification to default of trustee on custodial stewardship duty — No causal inquiry where substitutive remedy of falsification is engaged — Disallowing sale of company shares held on trust where trust shares were sold by trustee at sale price below market value with corresponding obligation on trustee to reconstitute trust estate in specie Trusts — Breach of trust — Exclusion of liability — Construction of exclusion of liability clause — Restrictive interpretation of clause purporting to exclude liability of trustee — Armitage v Nurse approach to construction of exclusion of liability clauses in trusts instruments — Whether phrase “absolute discretion” in trust instrument enlarged trustee’s powers — Whether phrase “absolute discretion” abridged trustee’s duties — Whether phrase “absolute discretion” amounted to valid and enforceable exclusion of liability clause Trusts — Breach of trust — Remedies — Remedy of surcharging — Application of remedy of surcharging to default of trustee on management stewardship duty — Causal inquiry to identify what prudent trustee would have done in hypothetical assessment of how trustee should have acted — Whether hypothetical prudent trustee would have approved amendment to company constitution negating rights of trust property in form of preference share without accretion of equivalent value to trust estate to compensate for corresponding loss of market value of share Civil Procedure — Affidavits — Principles applicable to grant of permission to adduce new affidavit of evidence-in-chief after deadline for filing and exchanging of affidavits of evidence-in-chief between litigants has elapsed — Two-stage test of relevance and prejudice for allowing new affidavit of evidence-in-chief to be admitted into evidence — Whether undue prejudice is occasioned to litigant where opposing party seeks to introduce new affidavit of evidence-in-chief addressing new points of fact close to start of civil trial after deadline for affidavits of evidence-in-chief to be filed and exchange between them has passed

Practice Areas

Trusts Equity Civil Procedure Succession and Wills

Judges (1)

Goh Yihan Delivered

Counsel (13)

Damodara Ong LLC Firm Robertson Chambers LLC Firm TSMP Law Corporation Firm Carmen Lee Jia Wen Counsel Non-Party Choo Jit Kim Perl Counsel Plaintiff Koh Li Qun Kelvin Counsel Plaintiff Lim Dao Yuan Keith Counsel Non-Party Ng Qiheng Glenn Counsel Plaintiff Nguyen Vu Lan Counsel Plaintiff Sun Lupeng Cedric Counsel Non-Party Tan Li-Chern Terence Counsel Defendant Thio Shen Yi Counsel Plaintiff Uday Duggal Counsel Plaintiff

Parties (4)

Devin Jethanand Bhojwani Plaintiff Dilip Jethanand Bhojwani Plaintiff Jethanand Harkishindas Bhojwani Defendant Sandeep Jethanand Bhojwani Plaintiff

Case Significance

Devin Jethanand Bhojwani and others v Jethanand Harkishindas Bhojwani [2024] SGHC 310 is a judgment of the General Division of the High Court delivered on 5 December 2024 by Goh Yihan J in Suit No 521 of 2021. The three plaintiffs, Devin, Dilip and Sandeep Jethanand Bhojwani, sued the defendant, Jethanand Harkishindas Bhojwani, in his capacity as trustee, alleging breaches of trust in the administration of an express testamentary trust. The judgment addresses a trustee's common law duty of care and the statutory duty under s 3A of the Trustees Act 1967 (2020 Rev Ed), the no-conflict rule, the equitable remedies of account on a wilful default basis, falsification and surcharging, the construction of an exclusion of liability clause (including the Armitage v Nurse approach and the meaning of "absolute discretion"), and the clean hands doctrine and its relationship to the Ochroid Trading approach to illegality. It also covers procedural questions on amending pleadings and adducing new affidavits of evidence-in-chief close to trial.

[2024] SGHC 310 explained

DEVIN JETHANAND BHOJWANI & 2 Ors v JETHANAND HARKISHINDAS BHOJWANI ([2024] SGHC 310) is a Singapore judgment decided by the High Court (General Division) on 5 December 2024. It is categorised under Trusts, Equity, Civil Procedure, and Succession and Wills. Within this corpus it has since been cited by 2 other reported Singapore judgments, a measure of how often later decisions have referred to it. This page summarises what the reported decision covers and links the primary sources — the full judgment, the statutes it cites, and the other cases it engages with — so the decision can be read in context. It is reference information, not legal advice, and it does not state the outcome or any holding beyond what the official judgment records.

What is [2024] SGHC 310 about?

DEVIN JETHANAND BHOJWANI & 2 Ors v JETHANAND HARKISHINDAS BHOJWANI ([2024] SGHC 310) is a High Court (General Division) decision from 2024. Its published catchwords are “Trusts — Trustees — Duties — Common law duty of care to manage and administer trust as ordinary prudent man of business would”, “Trusts — Trustees — Duties — Statutory duty of care to exercise such care and skill as is reasonable in circumstances when exercising general power of investment — Section 3A Trustees Act 1967 (2020 Rev Ed)”, “Equity — Remedies — Account — Account on wilful default basis — Applicable test for showing wilful default of trustee — Whether trustee displayed want of ordinary prudence in conduct and administration of trust”, and “Civil Procedure — Pleadings — Amendment — Principles applicable to grant of permission to amend pleadings — Whether to allow amendment of reply close to start of civil trial where amendment is responsive to pleading in amended defence”, which indicate the subject matter the judgment addresses. The full reasoning and orders are in the judgment itself, linked below.

Which legislation does [2024] SGHC 310 consider?

The judgment refers to Companies Act (Cap 50), Limitation Act (Cap 163), Trustees Act (Cap 337), and Trustees Act which provides that powers conferred on trustees under the Trustees Act (Cap 337). The statutes cited are listed in full on this page, each linking to its primary text.

What earlier Singapore cases does [2024] SGHC 310 cite?

Among the in-corpus authorities it refers to are [2024] SGHC 248 and [2024] SGHC 79. The complete list of cases cited, and of later cases that cite this decision, is shown on this page.

How influential is [2024] SGHC 310?

Within this corpus, [2024] SGHC 310 has been cited by 2 later reported Singapore judgments. That count reflects references from other decisions held in this corpus only and is a conservative lower bound on how often the case has actually been cited.

Summary

Devin, Dilip and Sandeep Jethanand Bhojwani brought a suit in the General Division of the High Court against Jethanand Harkishindas Bhojwani concerning alleged breaches of trust arising from an express testamentary trust, including the trustee's approval of an amendment to a company's constitution affecting a preference share held on trust while he held ordinary shares in the same company. The proceedings raised issues including the trustee's common law and statutory duties of care, the no-conflict rule, the clean hands doctrine, the construction of an exclusion of liability clause, and the equitable remedies of falsification and surcharging, as well as procedural questions on amending pleadings and adducing further affidavit evidence before trial.

What issues did Devin Jethanand Bhojwani v Jethanand Harkishindas Bhojwani [2024] SGHC 310 decide?

In [2024] SGHC 310, Goh Yihan J addressed a trustee's common law and statutory duties of care under s 3A of the Trustees Act 1967, the no-conflict rule, equitable remedies of account, falsification and surcharging, exclusion of liability clauses, and the clean hands doctrine, in a breach of trust suit over an express testamentary trust.

How did the court treat exclusion of liability clauses in Bhojwani v Bhojwani ([2024] SGHC 310)?

Per [2024] SGHC 310, the court applied a restrictive interpretation to clauses purporting to exclude a trustee's liability, following the Armitage v Nurse approach, and considered whether the phrase "absolute discretion" enlarged the trustee's powers, abridged his duties, or amounted to a valid exclusion of liability clause.

Statutes Cited

Companies Act (Cap 50) Cases on this Act →

s 26A

Limitation Act (Cap 163) Cases on this Act →

s 6(1)(a) s 6(2)

Trustees Act (Cap 337) Cases on this Act →

s 2(2) s 3A s 3A(2) s 6(1)

Trustees Act which provides that powers conferred on trustees under the Trustees Act (Cap 337) Cases on this Act →

s 2(2)

Cases Cited (58)

SG (8)

[2005] SGCA 4 [2008] SGHC 98 [2016] SGHC 260 [2017] SGHC 90 [2021] SGHC 14 [2022] SGHC 186 [2024] SGHC 248 [2024] SGHC 79

SLR (29)

[1990] 1 SLR(R) 369 [1997] 2 SLR(R) 427 [2000] 1 SLR(R) 355 [2005] 2 SLR(R) 425 [2007] 1 SLR(R) 292 [2007] 2 SLR(R) 983 [2009] 3 SLR(R) 109 [2010] 1 SLR 1129 [2010] 3 SLR 110 [2011] 2 SLR 196 [2012] 4 SLR 339 [2014] 3 SLR 609 [2015] 3 SLR 770 [2017] 4 SLR 819 [2018] 1 SLR 363 [2019] 2 SLR 524 [2019] 4 SLR 714 [2019] 5 SLR 593 [2020] 1 SLR 1199 [2020] 1 SLR 133 [2021] 4 SLR 314 [2022] 1 SLR 1318 [2022] 5 SLR 1 [2023] 1 SLR 35 [2023] 2 SLR 91 [2023] 5 SLR 1703 [2024] 2 SLR 164 [2024] 3 SLR 1316 [2024] 4 SLR 540

UK (18)

[1956] 1 QB 304 [1980] Ch 515 [1985] AC 374 [1993] 1 WLR 1260 [1996] 1 AC 421 [1997] 2 WLR 436 [1998] 3 WLR 466 [1998] Ch 241 [2001] 1 AC 102 [2008] EWHC 2417 [2013] 2 AC 108 [2013] EWHC 4799 [2015] 1 WLR 1661 [2015] AC 1503 [2016] 3 WLR 399 [2017] 2 WLR 1231 [2020] EWHC 1020 [2022] AC 155

AU (2)

[2000] NSWSC 1224 [2001] NSWSC 6

HK (1)

[2014] 1 HKC 368