Mumbai: Coming down heavily on the office of
the Charity Commissioner for neglect of duty, the Bombay High
Court on Monday directed the commissioner to dispose of a dispute
involving two factions of trustees of the Lilavati Hospital by
August 16.
A division bench of Justices PB Majmudar and Mridula
Bhatkar was hearing a dispute between two groups led by
Prabodh Mehta and Charu Mehta regarding the bank account of
the Lilavati trust.
Charu Mehta has alleged that Prabodh, who handles the
financial accounts of the hospital pursuant to a resolution
dated November 24, 2008 siphoned off money from the trust. In
April this year, the Union Bank of India had freezed the
accounts of the trust owing to the allegations.
The dispute was then handed over to the office of Charity
Commissioner which is pending since January this year.
"The trust in question is a public trust. There should
not be any attempt to siphon funds by the trustees. It is the
statutory duty of the Charity Commissioner to adjudicate this
dispute. Unfortunately, the concerned officer has failed to
discharge his duty and has remained a silent spectator,"
Justice Majmudar remarked.
The court has directed the Charity Commissioner to hear
the matter himself and dispose it off by August 16.
Defending the freezing of the bank accounts of the trust,
lawyer for Union Bank M P Rao said, "The contradictory
instructions that we have been receiving from the two
disputing groups has made it difficult for the bank to permit
operation of the account."
PTI
