SSK/908 1 WP.2747.11 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION WRIT PETITION NO. 2747 OF 2011 Ramakant Suryajirao Darekar ....Petitioner Versus Joint Charity Commissioner, Pune Region & Ors. ...Respondents Mr. Uday Warunjikar i/b. Mr. Rahul S. Kadam, Advocate for the Petitioner. Mr. R. M. Patne, AGP for respondent no.1. Mr. S. P. Kadam, Advocate for respondent nos. 3 & 4. CORAM : RANJIT MORE, J. DATED : 13th APRIL, 2011. P.C.: Heard Mr. Warunjikar, learned counsel for the petitioner, Mr. Patne, learned AGP for respondent no.1 and Mr. Kadam, learned counsel for respondent nos. 3 & 4. 2. The petition pertains to election to the respondent no.2-Trust. The election to the Managing Committee of the Trust are being held as per the direction of this Court in Writ Petition No. 1773 of 1991. The petitioner was one of the members of the erstwhile Managing Committee. The petitioner along with 27 others were removed from the trusteeship of the respondent no.2 under Section 41-D of the Bombay Public Trusts Act, SSK/908 2 WP.2747.11 1950( in short “the Act”) by the Joint Charity Commissioner, Pune Region, Pune in Application No.55 of 2001. This order is carried in an appeal before the District Court and I am told that the said appeal is pending. 3. One Mr. Zope filed an application before the Joint Charity Commissioner, Pune for clarification of the following points: a) The members of which category are entitled to contest the elections of the Government Council? b) Whether, the members who have been removed under Section 41 D are entitled to contest the election? The Joint Charity Commissioner thereafter passed an order on 24th February, 2008 and held that all categories’ members are eligible to file nomination form. So far as removal of the trustees under Section 41 D of the Act is concerned, it is held that they are to be excluded. 4. The petitioner thereafter filed an application at Exhibit “56” in an application filed by Mr.Zope. By this application, the petitioner prayed that the voters’ list of the respondent no.2-Trust be prepared in consonance with the constitution of the respondent No.2-Trust and earlier order dated 24th February, 2011 in respect of exclusion of the members from contesting SSK/908 3 WP.2747.11 the election on the ground that they are removed under Section 41 D of the Act may be recalled. 5. This application was disposed of by the impugned order by the learned Joint Charity Commissioner, Pune Region, Pune. So far as the petitioner’s objections for excluding his name from contesting the election to the Managing Committee of the respondent no.2 is concerned, it was held that the petitioner along with 27 others have been removed under Section 41-D of the Act by the Competent Authority viz. the Joint Charity Commissioner. This order has not been stayed by an Higher Authority and, therefore, it was held that the petitioner was rightly excluded from contesting the election to the Managing Committee of respondent no.2 – Trust. So far as the other grounds of objections are concerned, it was held that the voters list was finalised on 1st February, 2011 and before finalisation of this voters’ list, the petitioner has not taken any objection and, therefore, now these objections cannot be considered. 6. Section 56-G of the Act deals with disqualification of the members. Under Clause (g) of Section 56G, a person shall be disqualified for appointment as or for being a member of a Committee, if he is found to be guilty of misconduct by the State Government. In the present case, the petitioner along with other members is removed under SSK/908 4 WP.2747.11 Section 41-D of the Act and, therefore, in the absence of any stay to the order under Section 41-D of the Act, disqualification will operate. So far as the objection of the petitioner that voters’ list is not prepared in accordance with the constitution of the Trust is concerned, I do not find any merit inasmuch as the Election Officer had already invited objections to the voters list up to 30th September, 2010 and during this period, the petitioner did not file any objections. The voters list is already made final on 1st February, 2011. That apart, I have perused the calendar of the events at annexure “I” at page 56. Under the calendar, the election programme was declared on 25th March, 2011 and almost all the stages except voting are completed. Voting is scheduled to take place on 24th April, 2011. The election process is at an advanced stage. Taking overall circumstances into consideration, I am not inclined to interfere with the impugned order. The writ petition is accordingly dismissed. 7. Needless to mention that the observations made herein above are made for the purpose of disposal of this writ petition and the petitioner is at liberty to challenge the election in appropriate proceedings. The said proceedings shall be disposed of independently on its own merits and without being influenced by the observations made herein above. (RANJIT MORE, J.)