Satish S/O Vasant Salpekar vs Ashwin Ghatate And Another

Citation : 2017 Latest Caselaw 2047 Bom
Judgement Date : 27 April, 2017

Bombay High Court
Satish S/O Vasant Salpekar vs Ashwin Ghatate And Another on 27 April, 2017
Bench: Ravi K. Deshpande
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                 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
                         NAGPUR BENCH, NAGPUR

                          WRIT PETITION NO. 2324 OF 2017

            Shri Satish Vasant Salpekar,
            aged about 63 years, Occ. Business,
            R/o. Plot No. A-2, Shri Gourinath
            Plot No. 86, Shivaji Nagar, Nagpur ......               PETITIONER

                               ...VERSUS...

 1.         Ashwin Ghatate,
            Aged Major, Occ. Business,
            R/o. Gokul, Ghatate Bungalow,
            V.I.P. Road, Civil Lines,
            Nagpur.

 2.         Jagjeet Singh,
            Aged Major, Occ. Business,
            R/o. Green Park, Society,
            Civil Lines, Nagpur.......                           RESPONDENTS

                                      AND
                          WRIT PETITION NO. 2321 OF 2017

            Shri Satish Vasant Salpekar,
            aged about 63 years, Occ. Business,
            R/o. Plot No. A-2, Shri Gourinath
            Plot No. 86, Shivaji Nagar, Nagpur ......               PETITIONER

                               ...VERSUS...

 1.         Ashwin Ghatate,
            Aged Major, Occ. Business,
            R/o. Gokul, Ghatate Bungalow,
            V.I.P. Road, Civil Lines,
            Nagpur.

 2.         Jagjeet Singh,
            Aged Major, Occ. Business,
            R/o. Green Park, Society,
            Civil Lines, Nagpur.......                           RESPONDENTS


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                                      and 
                          WRIT PETITION NO. 2325 OF 2017

          Shri Satish Vasant Salpekar,
          aged about 63 years, Occ. Business,
          R/o. Plot No. A-2, Shri Gourinath
          Plot No. 86, Shivaji Nagar, Nagpur ......               PETITIONER

                               ...VERSUS...

 1.       Ashwin Ghatate,
          Aged Major, Occ. Business,
          R/o. Gokul, Ghatate Bungalow,
          V.I.P. Road, Civil Lines,
          Nagpur.

 2.       Jagjeet Singh,
          Aged Major, Occ. Business,
          R/o. Green Park, Society,
          Civil Lines, Nagpur.......                           RESPONDENTS

                                      AND
                          WRIT PETITION NO. 2326 OF 2017

          Shri Satish Vasant Salpekar,
          aged about 63 years, Occ. Business,
          R/o. Plot No. A-2, Shri Gourinath
          Plot No. 86, Shivaji Nagar, Nagpur ......               PETITIONER

                               ...VERSUS...

 1.       Ashwin Ghatate,
          Aged Major, Occ. Business,
          R/o. Gokul, Ghatate Bungalow,
          V.I.P. Road, Civil Lines,
          Nagpur.

 2.       Jagjeet Singh,
          Aged Major, Occ. Business,
          R/o. Green Park, Society,
          Civil Lines, Nagpur.......                           RESPONDENTS




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                                      AND
                          WRIT PETITION NO. 2327 OF 2017

          Shri Satish Vasant Salpekar,
          aged about 63 years, Occ. Business,
          R/o. Plot No. A-2, Shri Gourinath
          Plot No. 86, Shivaji Nagar, Nagpur ......               PETITIONER

                               ...VERSUS...

 1.       Ashwin Ghatate,
          Aged Major, Occ. Business,
          R/o. Gokul, Ghatate Bungalow,
          V.I.P. Road, Civil Lines,
          Nagpur.

 2.       Jagjeet Singh,
          Aged Major, Occ. Business,
          R/o. Green Park, Society,
          Civil Lines, Nagpur.......                           RESPONDENTS

                                      AND
                          WRIT PETITION NO. 2373 OF 2017

          Shri Sanjay Suresh Joshi,
          aged about 50 years, Occ. Business,
          R/o. Plot No. 36, Tilak Nagar, 
          Nagpur ......                                           PETITIONER

                               ...VERSUS...

 1.       Ashwin Ghatate,
          Aged 48 years, , Occ. Business,
          R/o. Gokul, Ghatate Bungalow,
          V.I.P. Road, Civil Lines,
          Nagpur.

 2.       Jagjeet Singh,
          Aged 51 years,  Occ. Business,
          R/o. Greenpark, Society,
          Civil Lines, Nagpur.......                           RESPONDENTS

                                       AND


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                          WRIT PETITION NO. 2374 OF 2017

          Shri Sanjay Suresh Joshi,
          aged about 50 years, Occ. Business,
          R/o. Plot No. 36, Tilak Nagar, 
          Nagpur ......                                           PETITIONER

                               ...VERSUS...

 1.       Ashwin Ghatate,
          Aged 48 years, , Occ. Business,
          R/o. Gokul, Ghatate Bungalow,
          V.I.P. Road, Civil Lines,
          Nagpur.

 2.       Jagjeet Singh,
          Aged 51 years,  Occ. Business,
          R/o. Greenpark, Society,
          Civil Lines, Nagpur.......                           RESPONDENTS

                                       and
                          WRIT PETITION NO. 2375 OF 2017

          Shri Sanjay Suresh Joshi,
          aged about 50 years, Occ. Business,
          R/o. Plot No. 36, Tilak Nagar, 
          Nagpur ......                                           PETITIONER

                               ...VERSUS...

 1.       Ashwin Ghatate,
          Aged 48 years, , Occ. Business,
          R/o. Gokul, Ghatate Bungalow,
          V.I.P. Road, Civil Lines,
          Nagpur.

 2.       Jagjeet Singh,
          Aged 51 years,  Occ. Business,
          R/o. Greenpark, Society,
          Civil Lines, Nagpur.......                           RESPONDENTS

                                       AND


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                          WRIT PETITION NO. 2376 OF 2017

          Shri Sanjay Suresh Joshi,
          aged about 50 years, Occ. Business,
          R/o. Plot No. 36, Tilak Nagar, 
          Nagpur ......                                           PETITIONER

                               ...VERSUS...

 1.       Ashwin Ghatate,
          Aged 48 years, , Occ. Business,
          R/o. Gokul, Ghatate Bungalow,
          V.I.P. Road, Civil Lines,
          Nagpur.

 2.       Jagjeet Singh,
          Aged 51 years,  Occ. Business,
          R/o. Greenpark, Society,
          Civil Lines, Nagpur.......                           RESPONDENTS

                                       and
                          WRIT PETITION NO. 2377 OF 2017

          Shri Sanjay Suresh Joshi,
          aged about 50 years, Occ. Business,
          R/o. Plot No. 36, Tilak Nagar, 
          Nagpur ......                                           PETITIONER

                               ...VERSUS...

 1.       Ashwin Ghatate,
          Aged 48 years, , Occ. Business,
          R/o. Gokul, Ghatate Bungalow,
          V.I.P. Road, Civil Lines,
          Nagpur.

 2.       Jagjeet Singh,
          Aged 51 years,  Occ. Business,
          R/o. Greenpark, Society,
          Civil Lines, Nagpur.......                           RESPONDENTS




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 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 S/Shri N.A.Gaikwad and Alok Daga, counsel for Petitioners.
 Shri U.A.Gosawi, counsel for Respondent no. 1
 Shri M.M.Dandekar, counsel for respondent No.2
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                          CORAM: R. K. DESHPANDE, J.

th DATE : 27 APRIL, 2017 .

 ORAL JUDGMENT


          1]               Rule made returnable forthwith.

Heard learned counsels appearing for the parties finally.

2] In all these petitions, the order dated 04.03.2017 passed by the learned Assistant Charity Commissioner, Nagpur, in different change reports, rejecting the applications filed by the petitioners under Section 73A of the Maharashtra Public Trusts Act, for being joined as intervenor, is under challenge. It has been held relying upon the decision of this Court in Chetan Mehta vrs. State of Maharashtra and others, reported in 2008 (6) All MR189, that the intervenors have not demonstrated as to how their impleadment would assist the authority in determining the present change report. It further holds that merely because the intervenors are the trustees as on the date, it would be of no use to assist the ::: Uploaded on - 02/05/2017 ::: Downloaded on - 02/05/2017 23:59:19 ::: 7 wp2324.17 + ors.odt enquiry on the change reports which were filed long back. 3] The learned counsels appearing for the petitioners in all these petitions, supported by Shri U.A.Gosawi, the learned counsel appearing for respondent No.1, urged that all the petitioners in the petitions were appointed as trustees of the trust in question by an order dated 19.05.2016 passed by the learned Joint Charity Commissioner at Mumbai, in exercise of his powers under Section 47 r/w Section 41-A of the said Act. It is not in dispute that all the change reports except one, to which the petitioners are the parties, were filed prior to 2012. It is urged that the petitioners are covered by the definition of "persons having interest" in Section 2(1)(e) of the said Act read with Section 2(18) and therefore, the application for intervention should have been allowed by the learned Assistant Charity Commissioner. The reliance is also placed upon the common decision of this Court in the case of Mr. Harshal Uddhav Aarvikar vrs. Shri Jagjeet Singh Gurusharan Singh and another, along with connected matters, decided on 07.04.2017. He urged that the provisions of Section 73A of the said Act is wide enough to include even the persons who ::: Uploaded on - 02/05/2017 ::: Downloaded on - 02/05/2017 23:59:19 ::: 8 wp2324.17 + ors.odt were not the members of the trust on the date of filing of the change report.

4] In the decision of this Court in Harshal's case, cited supra, the petitioners were found to be enrolled as members of the trust on 17.02.2009 and the change report was filed on 20.02.2009. Thus, the undisputed position was that prior to filing of change report, the petitioners were actually enrolled as the members. They were, therefore, held to be the persons having interest in the trust. The observations of this Court that the provision of Section 73A of the said Act is wide enough to include even the persons who were not the members of the trust on the date of filing of the change report is, therefore, surplusage and does not constitute a ratio of the decision. The said decision does not, therefore, help the petitioners in these petitions. 5] Merely because all the petitioners were appointed as trustees by the subsequent order dated 19.05.2016 of the learned Joint Charity Commissioner, passed in exercise of powers under Section 47 read with Section 41-A of the said Act, would not make them as the ::: Uploaded on - 02/05/2017 ::: Downloaded on - 02/05/2017 23:59:20 ::: 9 wp2324.17 + ors.odt persons having interest in the trust for the purpose of the change reports which were filed on 20.02.2009 i.e. prior to they becoming the trustees of the trust. The contention to that effect is, therefore, rejected.

6] In the result, there is no substance in the petition. All the petitions are dismissed.

JUDGE Rvjalit ::: Uploaded on - 02/05/2017 ::: Downloaded on - 02/05/2017 23:59:20 :::