ash 1 fa-1761.10 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CIVIL APPELLATE SIDE JURISDICTION FIRST APPEAL NO. 1761 OF 2010 Babaji Tatoba Gavade & Others. .. Appellants Vs Mohan Bhagwan Jangam & Ors. .. Respondents -- Shri T.S. Ingale for the Appellants. Shri Pratap Patil for Respondent Nos.1 to 7. -- CORAM ; A.S. OKA, J DATED : 2ND FEBRUARY, 2011 ORAL JUDGMENT : . Heard learned counsel appearing for the Appellants and the learned counsel appearing for the 1st to 7th Respondents. 2. Whether the District Court could have entertained the application under Section 72(1) of the Bombay Public Trusts Act, 1950 without condoning the delay is a substantial question of law which arises in this Appeal. 3. The Appeal is taken up for final disposal. The 1st to 7th Respondents herein filed an application under Section 72(1) of the said Act before the District Court for challenging the judgment and order dated 11th February, 2005 passed by the learned Assistant Charity ash 2 fa-1761.10 Commissioner in exercise of the powers under Section 50A of the said Act. The application was filed before the District Court on 5th June, 2008. 4. The submission of the learned counsel appearing for the Appellants is that the application was not filed within the stipulated period of 60 days and though the said objection was specifically raised, the same has been ignored. Learned counsel appearing for the 1st to 7th Respondents supported the impugned order by submitting that the objection regarding limitation has been dealt with by the District Court in Paragraph 14 of the Judgment. Hence, no interference is called for. 5. Under Sub-section (1) of Section 72 of the said Act, the Application is required to be filed before the District Court within a period of 60 days from the date of decision. Admittedly, the application under Section 72(1) of the said Act was filed by the 1st to 7th Respondents more than 2 and ½ years after the date of decision of the Assistant Charity Commissioner. The objection regarding limitation was raised before the District Court. While dealing with the said objection, the learned District Judge has observed thus:- “14. .....Further he submitted that the present Application is barred by limitation, as it is not filed within sixty days from date of decision of Charity Commissioner as provided under Section 72 of BPT ash 3 fa-1761.10 Act. However, the Application itself shows that the fact of decision came to notice of Applicants fifteen days prior to the filing of the Application. That apart, for the reasons recorded above the arguments are not accepted.” The period of limitation starts running from the date of the decision and not from the date of the knowledge. The reason recorded by the learned District Judge could have been at highest a ground set up for condonation of delay. However, there was no application made for condonation of delay. Without condoning the delay, the application under Sub-section (1) of Section 72 of the said Act could not have been registered and taken up for final hearing. Only on this ground, the impugned judgment and order will have to be quashed and set aside. However, an opportunity will have to be granted to the 1st to 7th Respondents to file an application for condonation of delay. 6. Hence, I pass the following order. (i) The impugned judgment and order dated 28th September, 2010 is quashed and set aside and the Misc. Application No. 29 of 2008 is restored to the file of the learned District Judge. (ii) It will be open for the 1st to 7th Respondents to apply for condonation of delay within a period of eight ash 4 fa-1761.10 weeks from today. If such an application is filed within the stipulated time, the learned District Judge will decide the same expeditiously on its own merits. (iii) If 1st to 7th Respondents fail to file an application for condonation of delay within a period of eight weeks from today, the Misc. Application No. 29 of 2008 will stand dismissed without further reference to the Court. (iv) The Appeal is partly allowed on above terms with no orders as to costs. ( A.S. OKA, J )