Bombay high court
The bench also quashed and set aside a consequential order of Srichand Jagamlani, then Nashik principal district and sessions judge, issued on March 14, withdrawing the list of trustees from the website and staying it. Shende’s March 14 communication referred to the Maharashtra Public Trusts (Amendment) Ordinance, 2025, stating that Jagamlani should have consulted HC. However, HC judges noted that the relevant section by which the charity commissioner replaced the district judge to appoint trustees came into force only on May 1 and not when Shende issued the communication on March 14. On Oct 27, the judges prima facie observed that as per established practice, an office submission is required to be placed before the CJ or the committee judges for approval before orders are communicated to the district judge.
Mumbai: Holding that the then special officer to former Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar had “misused” his name to direct withdrawal of a list of selected trustees to a religious trust in Nashik, Bombay high court has quashed and set aside a March 14 communication she had issued. They challenged Shende’s March 14 communication, in which she stated that “in pursuance to the telephonic talk at the discretion of the Chief Justice of the Bombay high court, it is hereby conveyed that the list of recommended trustees… published by your office must be withdrawn from the website and kept on hold until further directions”. Jagtiani and advocate Rajesh Datar, for HC and district judge/chairman, said no such submission was placed before the then CJ and his approval was not taken before issuing the communication. The judges refused to accept Shende’s contentions, made in her affidavit, “when everything is being attributed to” the then CJ in the absence of material in that regard. They said Shende “acted with gross impropriety and contrary to law”. “The impugned communication cannot be sustained,” they said.
The former CJ is now a Supreme Court judge and the officer, Anju Shende, a principal district and sessions judge in Pune. The judgment was delivered on a petition by five selected/recommended candidates of Shree Saptashshrung Nivasini Devi Trust. Under the trust scheme, five of the seven trustees have to be appointed by the district judge.