OTHER SOCIAL SERVICES

CHARITY COMMISSIONER

Bombay Public Trusts Act.- A composite legislation called the Bombay Public Trusts Act (XXIX) was passed in the year 1950 which was made applicable to all the public trusts. Prior to this Act the religious and charitable trusts in the State were governed by various Acts based on religion. The said Act defined the ' Public Trust' as " an express or constructive trust for either public religious or charitable purpose or both and includes a temple, a math, a wakf, a dharmadaya or any religious or charitable endowment and a society formed either for religious or charitable purpose or for both and registered under the Societies Registration Act (XXI of 1860)".

The State Government can apply the provisions of the Act to any public trust or class of trusts and on such application the provisions of the old Act cease to apply to such public trusts. The Act was made applicable to the following classes of public trusts in the then Bombay State from January 1952 and in Marathwada and Vidarbha regions in the February 1961: -

(1) temples,

(2) maths,

(3) wakfs,

(4) public trusts other than (1), (2) and (3) above, created or existing mainly for the benefit of any community or any section of society.

(5) societies formed for religious or charitable purpose and registered under Societies Registration Act of 1860.

(6) dharmadaya, i.e., any amounts which according to the custom or usage of any business or trade or agreement between the parties relating to any transaction, are charged to any party to the transaction or collected under whatever name as being intended to be used for a charitable or religious purpose, and

(7) all other trusts, express or constructive, for either a public, religious or charitable purpose.

But the Act has not been made applicable to the charitable endowments vested in the Treasurer of Charitable Endowments under the provisions of the Charitable Endowments Act (VI of 1890).

The administration of the Act is vested in the Charity Commissioner who is stationed at Bombay. Deputy Charity Commissioner is appointed for Nagpur region who is directly responsible to the Charity Commissioner. The Buldhana district comes under the jurisdiction of Assistant Charity Commissioner, Akola.

Duties of the Trustee.- As per the provisions of the Act a trustee has to apply for registration of trust within the period of three months of the application of the Act or its creation. He has to give full particulars, given in the Act, which include-(a) the approximate value of the moveable and immoveable property owned by trust, (b) the gross annual income of the trust's property and (c) the amount of expenditure of the trust. No new registration is required if the trust is already registered under provisions of the previous Act. So also the clause of registration is not applicable to the dharmadayas which are governed by special provisions of the Act in certain respects.

The registration fee varies according to the value of the property of the trust. A contribution at the rate of two per cent is levied on gross annual income and the sum is credited to the Public Trusts Administration Fund created under the Act. Exemption from the payment of registration fee is given to the public trusts for the purpose of advancement of secular education or medical relief and public trusts having annual income of Rs. 1,000 or less. Further the amount spent on education, medical relief, donations, various taxes, interest on depreciation and grants received from Government, etc., is allowed to be deducted from computing the annual gross income. The contribution is levied on the net annual profits in the case of public trusts conducting a business or trade.

The trustee has to keep regular accounts of the trust which is to be audited by Chartered Accountant or persons authorised under the Act. Such persons are authorised to audit the accounts only of public trusts having gross annual income of Rs. 3,000 or less.

If the Deputv or Assistant Charity Commissioner is satisfied from the report made by auditor or by any officer authorised under section 37 of the Act that the trustee or any other person has been guiltv of gross negligence, breach of trust or misconduct resulting in a loss to the trust, he has to report the matter to the Charity Commissioner, who after inquiry, determines the amount of loss caused to the trust and surcharges the amount on person found guiltv. The sale, mortgage, exchange or gift of any immoveable property or lease for a period of more than ten years in case of agricultural land and three years in case of non-agricultural land is not valid without the prior sanction of the Charity Commissioner. The trustee of a public trust is bound to invest the surplus funds of the trust in securities on certain conditions. For this purpose he has to seek the permission of Charity Commissioner.

Application of funds by Cypres.- If the original object of a pub-lie trust fails wholly or partially, if there is surplus income or balance not likelv to be utilised, or in the case of public trust, other than a religious trust, if it is not in the public interest, necessary to carrv out wholly or partially the original intention of the author of the public trust, an application can be made to the District Court or City Civil Court, Bombay, as the case may be, for the application cypres of the property, or income of the trust.

If there is breach of trust or a declaration is necessary that a particular property belongs to the trust or a direction is required to recover the property, two or more persons having an interest in the trust or the Charity Commissioner, can file a suit in the District Court or City Civil Court, Bombay, to obtain relief given in the Act. The Charity Commissioner can file such a suit on his own motion. If the Charity Commissioner refuses the consent, an appeal lies to the Maharashtra Revenue Tribunal.

Charity Commissioner to be sole trust if appointed as trustee.- The Court or author of a public trust can appoint Charity Commissioner as trustee of the public trust, provided the appointment is made as a sole trustee. But the Court is not empowered to appoint Charity Commissioner as a trustee of a religious public trust. If the Charity Commissioner is appointed as a trustee, he can levy charges of administration on the trust as prescribed in the rules made under the Act.

Inquiries by Assessors.- Inquiries in respect of the registration of a public trust or regarding loss caused to a public trust, registered under the previous Act, have to be conducted with the aid of assessors not less than three and not more than five in number. These persons are selected, as far as possible, from the religious denomination of the public trust to which inquiry relates. The list of such assessors has to be prepared and published in the Official Gazette every three years.

Charity Commissioner and Charitable Endowments.- The Charity Commissioner is always deemed to be the Treasurer of Charitable Endowments for the State. He is appointed under the provisions of the Charitable Endowments Act, 1890.

In case of religious and charitable institutions and endowments, the management of which vests in the State Government, they are to be transferred to the Management Committee to be appointed by State Government for each district. The Charity Commissioner is vested with requisite power to require duties of these committees to be performed and to direct expenses in respect thereof to be paid from the funds belonging to the endowments.

Contraventions of the Act amount to offences and are punishable with fines ranging from Rs. 500 to Rs. 1,000 depending upon the nature of contravention. The Charity Commissioner is the sole authority for instituting the legal proceedings in the case of such contraventions.

The following table shows statistics relating to the public trusts in Buldhana district, as on 30th July 1968: -

TABLE No. 1

PUBLIC TRUSTS IN BULDHANA DISTRICT.

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