Trustees to pay fees

In a recent judgment, the Bombay High Court has made it clear that charity trust funds cannot be spent for defending the personal litigation of charged trustees, writes charity management authority Noshir Dadrawala.

In Vijay K. Mehta & Ors. vs Charu K. Mehta & Ors. (Writ Petition No. 8127 of 2008) Justice A. M. Khanwilkar observed "Amounts spent on lawyers not in respect of professional fees to represent Trust, but, in fact to handle the personal litigation of charged trustees, it not being a legitimate spending is impermissible. Amount will have to be recovered from the charged trustees personally, jointly and severally” [2009 (2) ALL MR 535 to 550].

Interestingly, the aforesaid writ was in a matter concerning suspension of trustees by the Joint Charity Commissioner under section 41D(3) of the Bombay Public Trusts Act 1950, notes Dadrawala.

When asked by Parsiana via e-mail whether the judgment would apply to the present case filed against the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) trustees by the Alert Zoroastrians Association (AZA) supporters, Dadrawala, a BPP trustee, replied, "Yes, I am inclined to believe that this principle would apply to the BPP trustees as well.”