Reconsider Shirdi appointments: HC

In view of the serious allegations

In a significant ruling the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court on Wednesday directed the Maharashtra government to reconsider and revisit the appointments to the Managing Committee of the Shri Sai Baba Sansthan Trust (Shirdi).

The court has asked the government to consider the ‘nature and gravity’ of the allegations levelled against all the 12 members of the committee, 10 of whom are politicians.

The division bench of Justice Satyaranjan Dharmadhikari and Justice Mangesh Patil was hearing a batch of petitions challenging the notification of the government issued on July 28, 2016. The petitions had challenged the

appointments of the 12 committee members claiming there were some serious allegations against all of them. The petitioners had cited a provision of the Shirdi Act 2004, which provided for disqualification of a member if he/she is ‘unfit.’

This committee, comprising mostly of bigwigs from the ruling BJP and the Shiv Sena, will have to undergo a reconsideration process, wherein each member would be assessed by an ‘impartial’ body.

The government, on the other hand, had cited the legislation passed in 2004 for managing the Shirdi Trust, with an intention to bring down litigation and enhance transparency.

Having considered the submissions advanced by all the parties, the judges were of the view that ‘unfit’ cannot be restricted only to physical state of a person and it can be used to describe the moral state, too.

Justice Dharmadhikari said, “We are not quashing or setting aside the impugned notification since the entire committee was formed under this notification. Also, given the fact the committee is operating since last one and a half year, we direct the government to revisit and reconsider the appointments.”

“While the government reconsiders the appointments, it should not rely on the police verification and reports alone and also consider the nature and gravity of the allegations levelled against each member. The government will have to complete this procedure within two months,” Justice Dharmadhikari added.

The judges also asked the government to form an ‘impartial and independent’ committee which will assess each member of this Managing Committee so that an ‘informed’ decision is taken.