Members of Thane charitable trust accused of financial irregularities, court appoints 11 new trustees

Old trustees of the Thane charitable trust have been charged with administrative lapses and financial irregularities in the trust. Consequently, the previous trustees were not re-appointed by the Thane court and 11 new trustees were appointed.

There should be new appointments of trustees of Bhimeshwar Sadguru Nityananda Sanstha for the administration and development of the trust, said Bhiwandi District Judge NK Karande. It was held by the court that there is an inquiry pending against the existing trustees and they have committed administrative failures. Bhimeshwar Sadguru Nityananda Sanstha Ganeshpuri is a registered charitable trust under the Bombay Public Trust Act, 1950. Trustees are appointed for five years in this. New appointments are done by the District Court when the period expires.

They were appointed for five years in the year 2016. Their term ended on November 16, 2021. New members could not be appointed because the process of appointing them got delayed and there were numerous allegations of financial irregularities which were the subject matter of ongoing lawsuits.

Several complaints including financial mismanagement were received against several trustees. According to the Charity Commissioner's report, investigations are underway into complaints of irregularities, disrespect, and misconduct against some trustees. At the same time, villagers, trust employees and public representatives had also raised concerns over trust administration and financial transactions. Many trustees also failed to submit audit reports and financial accounts for the years 2019-2020 and 2020-21.

After this, the court believed that the appointment of new trustees was required for the effective administration and development of the trust. The court issued a public notice and sought applications to become trustees. The court received 152 applications. After this, the criminal records, residential certificates, character certificates, fitness certificates, and other affidavits of the applicants were examined. After this, the court believed that 75 applicants met the necessary criteria.

After a rigorous selection process, the court-appointed 11 new trustees. These include Sunil Gyanoba Pote, Jagannath Poso Patil, Anuja Amol Singalwar, Nayan Singh Jatan Singh Thakor, Uday Ishwarlal Vyas, Ravindra Chandulal Shukla, Vitthal Mohan Rajput, Lalita Nitan Joshi, Amit Kisan Raut, Anand Prabhakar Anvekar and Sugandha Sachin Jadhav.