Pune: Bid to Stay Appointment of New Dagdusheth Datta Mandir Trust Trustees Rejected; Joint Charity Commissioner Passes Key Order
Pune, 24 June 2026: In a significant development, the Joint Charity Commissioner of Pune Division, Dinesh Kothalikar, has rejected pleas seeking a stay on the functioning of newly appointed trustees of the Late Smt. Laxmibai Dagdusheth Halwai Datta Mandir Trust.
Applicants Yashodhan Shivraj Kadam, Pawan Zende, Mahesh Thombre, Vishal More and Rajiv Marathe had sought a suspension of the order issued by the Assistant Charity Commissioner appointing the new trustees. They had also requested that the newly appointed trustees be restrained from carrying out the trust’s affairs pending further proceedings.
Among the respondents in the matter were Nitin Pandit, Suraj Thorat, Manisha Khedekar, Mahendra Gadhave, Raju Balkawade, Varsha Thorve, Dr. Parag Kalkar, Advocate Vivek Bhargude and Punit Balan.
After hearing both sides, Joint Charity Commissioner Kothalikar observed that no appeal or review petition challenging the Assistant Charity Commissioner’s order had been filed before his authority. Therefore, he held that there was no legal basis to grant an independent stay on the appointment order.
The applicants had relied on provisions of the Maharashtra Public Trusts Act and Rule 36 to argue that the authority possessed powers to grant interim relief. However, the order noted that the rules do not create independent powers and that a stay cannot be granted in the absence of a pending appeal or review.
The authority was also informed that the applicants had already moved the Bombay High Court through a writ petition. Consequently, their request for a one-month stay was rendered ineffective.
Expressing displeasure over the manner in which the applications were drafted, the Joint Charity Commissioner remarked that the petitions had been prepared carelessly and sought a stay “until disposal of proceedings” despite no proceedings being pending. Holding the applications to be non-maintainable, he dismissed them.
