MUMBAI: The Bombay high court has struck down an order of the Joint Charity Commissioner (JCC), appointing an administrator on the Bombay Diocesan Trust Association (BDTA), and directed the Charity Commissioner to expeditiously decide all pending change reports submitted by the Association.
The Association holds and manages Anglican Trust properties like churches, institutions, schools, cemeteries spread over Western India – across Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa and North Karnataka.
It had approached the high court, challenging the order passed by JCC on December 18, 2019, based on complaints, alleging mismanagement and illegalities, including pilfering of funds and transfer of Trust properties.
Recording that the term of the last elected body had ended on October 14, 2018, but it was continuing to manage the affairs of the Trust, the JCC appointed an assistant charity commissioner as administrator for the Association and ordered him to prepare a voters list and take steps for holding elections in consonance with the Memorandum of Association and applicable rules and regulations.
The administrator, however, could not take charge of the affairs of the Association, as the high court had passed an interim stay on the JCC order and the Association continued to manage and administer their affairs and properties.
A bench of justice MS Sonak and justice Jitendra Jain on Friday struck down the JCC order after noticing that under the Memorandum of Association, the initial directors were termed as ex-officio directors and under the scheme of the Association, one-third of the other directors retire every year and the vacancies are filled in the annual general meeting.
Therefore, the court said that the statement that the term of the elected body expired on October 14, 2018 was not entirely correct. “At the highest, it could be said, the term of one third of the Board of Directors expired on the said date and therefore, there was a necessity to hold an election to fill in the vacancies caused by the retirement of one third of the directors,” said the bench.
As regards the appointment of the administrator, the court said that the JCC simply took note of the allegations of mismanagement and illegal activities made in the applications filed before him and concluded that there was a need to appoint a suitable person as administrator.
“It is apparent the Joint Charity Commissioner has not himself examined the allegations to determine whether even prima-facie, they have any substance or not,” said the court. “Merely because there are allegations, the Joint Charity Commissioner has concluded that it would be unfair for the office bearers to continue and has proceeded to appoint the Administrator,” it added.
After the petitioner body pointed out that during the pendency of the petition, there have been regular annual general meetings and vacancies filled in, but several change reports have been pending with the JCC, the court directed the authorities to dispose off the change reports in six months.