Bombay High Court Allows Offline Filing at Charity Commissioner’s Office Amid Website Glitches
Pune, 10th May 2025: In a major relief for lawyers and trust administrators, the Bombay High Court has permitted the offline submission of proposals at Charity Commissioner offices across Maharashtra, following persistent technical failures on the department’s online portal.
The decision comes after a petition filed by Advocate Shraddha Sunil More, represented by Advocate Rahul Kadam, highlighted the frequent server crashes and glitches that had paralyzed the proposal approval process. The state had earlier mandated online-only submission for registering trusts and institutions, but the unreliable website made compliance difficult—especially for junior lawyers handling such matters.
A division bench of Justice G.S. Kulkarni and Justice Adwait Sethna heard the petition and sought a report from the Charity Commissioner. The report confirmed outdated infrastructure and serious technical shortcomings on the portal. Even government advocates conceded that the online system was facing recurring disruptions, particularly in the Mumbai office.
In response, the court summoned technical experts from the private firm responsible for developing the website and questioned them on the delays. Pending resolution of these issues, the court ordered that proposals be accepted offline across the state and directed the Charity Commissioner’s office to process them without delay.
The High Court had issued a similar directive in 2018, but despite the known technical limitations, the state had recently reintroduced compulsory online filing.
Advocate Shivraj Kadam-Jahagirdar, former president of the Public Trust Practitioners Association in Pune, welcomed the court’s intervention and credited Advocate More’s efforts for securing timely relief for the legal fraternity and their clients.
