The Joint Charity Commissioner has jurisdiction to decide applications under Section 36A(3A) of the Maharashtra Public Trust Act, exercising the powers of the Charity Commissioner.

JUDGMENT :

(Gauri Godse, J.)

1. Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. Taken up for final disposal.

2. This petition is filed for challenging order dated 15th July 2022, passed by the Learned Joint Charity Commissioner, Pune region, Pune in Application No. 27 of 2022, filed by the petitioners under sub-section (3A) of Section 36A of the Maharashtra Public Trust Act, 1950 ('Trust Act'). The said application is rejected for want of jurisdiction.

3. Learned counsel for the petitioners submitted that the application has been erroneously dismissed on the ground that the learned Joint Charity Commissioner has no jurisdiction to decide the application filed under sub-section (3A) of Section 36A of the Trust Act. He submits that the Joint Charity Commissioner is empowered to exercise all the powers of the Charity Commissioner and hence has jurisdiction to decide the application filed by the petitioners. Learned counsel submitted that even though sub-section 3A of Section 36A provides for the grant of ex post facto sanction by the Charity Commissioner, even the Joint Charity Commissioner has jurisdiction of the Charity Commissioner to decide the said application.

4. Learned counsel for the petitioners relied upon the provision of Section 3A of the said Act under which the State Government appoints one or more officers to be called as Joint Charity Commissioners who shall subject to the control of the Charity Commissioner exercise all or any of the powers and perform all or any of the duties and functions of the Charity Commissioner. He further submits that sub-section (2) of Section 3A provides that the State Government can declare a Joint Charity Commissioner to be the Regional Head to Superintend, subject to the control of the Charity Commissioner. Learned counsel also relied upon the definition of 'Joint Charity Commissioner' under sub-section (7B) of Section 2 of the said Act, which states that the Joint Charity Commissioner means the Joint Charity Commissioner appointed under Section 3A.

5. The learned counsel for the petitioners thus, submitted that a plain reading of Section 3A read with sub-section (7B) of Section 2 of the Trust Act, clearly indicates that the Joint Charity Commissioner would exercise the power of Charity Commissioner under sub-section (3A) of Section 36A of the Trust Act. In support of his submissions, learned counsel relied upon the decision of this Court in the case of State of Maharashtra vs. D. D. Khobragade, 1969 MhLJ 910. He particularly relied upon paragraphs 7 and 9 of the said decision which read as under:-

"7. It appears to me that section 3A of the Act has been so drafted by the Legislature as to avoid repeated reference to 'Joint Charity Commissioner' as and where the words 'Charity Commissioner' appear in the Act. The Charity Commissioner is authorised to perform several functions and is vested with powers in that behalf. The Joint Charity Commissioner is created for the purpose of performing all those functions and for the purpose of exercising all those powers. However, as there could be only one Charity Commissioner's Office, the Joint Charity Commissioner could not be created as another parallel officer without any control by the Charity Commissioner. So far as the exercise of all powers and performing of all duties and functions under the Act, is concerned, the Joint Charity Commissioner has the same authority and status in this Act. However, he is subject to the general control of the Charity Commissioner and also to the control of the State Government, if any orders in that behalf are passed whether general or special. The real meaning of this clause is that unless the Charity Commissioner directs otherwise where a matter has been entrusted to the Joint Charity Commissioner, he has all the powers of the Charity Commissioner under the Act, and his order is the order of the Charity Commissioner himself.

9. This, to my mind, being the real meaning and the purpose of section 3A of the Act, the Joint Ch