The Bombay High Court has ruled that a dispute between two office bearers of a registered trust cannot be a valid ground to withhold the grants for running a school under 'Aid to voluntary organization working for scheduled caste Ashramshala' scheme.

A Division Bench of Justice Kishore C. Sant and Justice Ajit B. Kadethankar directed the Union of India to disburse 11 years of unpaid grants to the petitioner, Balaji Yuvak Mandal.

“We are of the considered opinion that the so-called dispute inter-se two office bearers is not a justifiable ground to hold on the disbursement of the grants. If it is allowed, this shall frustrate the very object of the scheme. Even otherwise on facts, the dispute no more remained in force looking to the judgments rendered by the learned Joint Charity Commissioner,” the Court held.

The Court noted that the petitioner had clarified that there was no pending dispute, adding, “Even otherwise, beneficiary of the scheme grant is 'School' of which expenses are to be reimbursed, the organization/trust is merely a medium in this process.”

The Division Bench took into account the fact that the District Social Welfare Officer inspected the school almost every year between 2006 and 2013 and had recommended release of grants. These recommendations were verified and then forwarded by the state government's Social Welfare department to the Union of India.

Rejecting the Union of India's contention that the grant claim was time barred under the General Financial Rules (GFR), 2017 due to delayed communications from the state government, the Court observed, “Whenever directed, special investigation was also conducted and clarification was submitted. If there is any delay on behalf of the State authorities in communication with Respondent no.1, Petitioner cannot be penalized for that. We disapprove the defense taken by Respondent no.1 in the additional affidavit on the point of delay treating Petitioner's claims as 'time barred'.”

“In the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case, we deem it appropriate to exercise our jurisdiction u/a 226 of the Indian Constitution for directing the Respondent no.1 to disburse the grants to the Petitioner for the period 2000-2001, 2001-2002, 2002-2003 and 2005-2006 onwards till 2012-2013,” the Court held.

Background

The Petitioner trust, Balaji Yuvak Mandal, was issued grant-in-aid in 1997 by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment of Union of India for establishing and running a residential school under the scheme 'Aid to voluntary organization working for scheduled caste Ashramshala'. The school was initially set up in Dharashiv and was later shifted to Nanded's Loha.

The Petitioner received the grants till 1999- 2000, but the subsequent grants for the periods 2000-2003 and 2007- 2013 were withheld without any adverse remarks or deficiencies being communicated to the petitioner. Consequently, the trust approached the Court in 2018 seeking the release of the withheld grants.

In its reply affidavit, the Union of India said that the grants could not be issued due to the dispute between two office bearers of the petitioner body.

Case: Balaji Yuvak Mandal, Navandi Vs Union of India & others

WRIT PETITION NO.10507 OF 2018

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