Maharashtra Public Trusts Act

Maharashtra Public Trusts Act — Charity Commissioner (C.C.)

Documents to be filed	Period	Prescribed Form	Procedures
Application for registration of the Trust (Sec. 18, Rule 6)	Within 3 months of creation of the Trust.	Schedule II	a. Application in the prescribed form b. Instrument (Trust Deed) c. Affidavit d. Consent letter e. No objection for use of address and address proof f. Notice in Newspaper g. List of all the Trustees and their identity proof
Application for registration of the Society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 and Maharashtra Public Trust Act, 1950.	Within 6 months of creation of the Trust	Schedule II	UNDER THE SOCIETY REGISTRATION ACT, 1860: 1. Memorandum of Association and Rules & Regulations. 2. Resolution of all the members. 3. Consent Letter of members. 4. Authority letter. 5. NOC of the Owner of the premises to use the same as the registered address of the captioned Society. 6. Affidavit. 7. Schedule I. 8. Schedule II. 9. Schedule VI. 10. List of Managing Committee members with their ID and Address proof. UNDER THE MAHARASHTRA PUBLIC TRUST ACT, 1950: 1. Schedule II. 2. Memorandum of Association and Rules & Regulations. 3. Consent Letter. 4. Authority Letter. 5. Letter of exemption from publication. 6. Resolution of all members. 7. NOC of the Owner of the premises to use the same as the registered address of the captioned Society. 8. Affidavit. 9. List of Managing Committee members with their ID and Address proof.
Application for registration of a trust created by will (Sec. 29)	Within 1 month of granting of probate/within 6 months of Testator's death whichever is earlier.	Schedule II	Application must be signed and affirmed by the applicant, and to be accompanied by a true copy of the Will and above procedures must be followed.
Memorandum of particulars of immovable properties [Sec. 18(7), Rule 6(7)]	Within 3 months of creation of the Trust.	Schedule II-A	Memorandum to be signed and affirmed by a trustee.
Change (Section 22 and Rule 13)	Within 90 days of the occurrence of change.	Schedule III	To be signed and affirmed by a trustee. It must be ensured that changes are communicated within 90 days and thereafter it is the responsibility of the trustee to follow-up and get the order of the changes. Changes for the appointment of the new trustees will be filed along with the notice of meeting, resolution, attendance sheet for the meeting, invitation letter, consent letter and Affidavit as well as for Deletion of name of trustee to be filed with letter of resignation, death certificate, Affidavit, No Objection letter and other relevant documentary evidence. Please note that the change report to be filed is to be approved by the Superintendent and only thereafter the change report can be filed.
Change (Section 22(1A), Rule 13(1A)) relating to Immovable property	Within 90 days of the occurrence of change.	Schedule III-A	Change schedule to be signed and affirmed by a trustee along with relevant documents of the property, how the property has come to the trust, Name and address of previous owner, Publication in newspaper, Copy of 7/12 of the property, Evidence Affidavit and audited accounts for last three years.
Budget (Sec. 31A, Rule 16A)	At least 1 month before commencement of each accounting year.	Schedule VII-A	If annual income exceeds ₹ 5,000/- for public religious trusts and ₹ 10,000/- for other trusts, then to file budget by making adequate provisions for carrying out the objects of the trust, and for the maintenance and preservation of the trust property.
Accounts and Audit (Secs. 32, 33(2), 33(4), 34, Rules 17, 21)	Accounts to be audited within 6 months from close of accounting year.	Schedule VIII for Balance Sheet and Schedule IX for Income & Expenditure Schedule IX-C for Statement of Contribution	Trust exempted from requirements of audit is required to file accounts in Schedules IX-A & IX-B. It is auditors duty to prepare Balance Sheet and Income & Expenditure A/c and forward the same along with a copy of his report to the trustee who in turn will forward the full set of audited accounts in the Office of Charity Commissioner within the fortnight of completion of audit. The trust having an annual income of ₹ 15,000/- or less is exempt from audit.
Maintenance of register u/s. 36-B	Maintain a register for all movable and immovable properties.	Schedule X-AA	The changes to be reported to Office of C.C.
Maintenance of register by a Medical Centre u/s. 41AA	Governing Body of a Medical centre shall maintain a register for recording the category of a patient.	Schedule X-AAA	A register is required to be maintained of indigent patients and patients from weaker sections.

INVESTMENTS (SECTION 35)

Public trust can invest its funds in any of the following modes :

Scheduled Bank as defined in Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.
Postal Savings Bank.
Co-operative bank approved by the State Government.
Public Securities (Sec. 2(12)) (Units issued by the Unit Trust of India are declared as Public Securities).
First mortgage of immovable property situated in India provided the property is not leased for a term of years that is lease for 50 or 99 or 999, it must be in perpetuity and for an indefinite period.
Any other investments permitted by CC by a special or general order. CC circular provides that investment made pursuant to such order should not exceed 50% of total investments.

IMMOVABLE PROPERTY (SECTION 36)

Investment in immovable property requires CC's permission. No permission is necessary for development of immovable property to fulfil objects of the trust; e.g., construction of school building, library, etc. However, the trustee needs to file change report for addition of building u/s. 22 of the Maharashtra Public Trust Act, 1950.

Sale, exchange, lease or gift of any immovable property of a public trust is invalid unless previously approved by the CC. Lease exceeding a period of 3 years requires prior permission of the Charity Commissioner. We have to enclose the Memorandum of Understanding/Sale Deed in case of sale and Lease Deed in case of lease.

CONTRIBUTION (SECTION 58, RULES 32 & 33)

Every public trust not exempt having gross annual income exceeding ₹ 25,000/- has to pay contribution to Public Trust Administration Fund at rates notified by State Government from time-to-time. For last 21 years, the rate notified has been 2%. Stay has been granted by Hon'ble Bombay High Court in CA Number 1 of 2009 and PIL Numbers 40, 1780 and 1864 of 2007, order dtd. 25-9-2009.

Gross annual income means gross income from all sources including donations and offerings, but excluding corpus donations. Contribution is payable at the prescribed rate on the gross annual income after making deductions prescribed in Rule 32.

The following trusts are exempt from payment of contribution.

1. Small trusts having annual income of ₹ 25,000/- or less.

2. Public trusts exclusively for advancement/propagation of *education/medical relief/veterinary treatment. *(till 5th August, 1997 the law provided deduction for secular education.)

3. Recognised Public Libraries and Reading Rooms.

4. Public Trusts exclusively for the purpose of relief of distress caused by scarcity, drought, flood, fire, or other natural calamity.

Recently Mumbai High Court has by an interim order stayed the payment of contribution in response to a PIL. The office of the Charity Commissioner is accepting the accounts from the year 2009 without payment of contribution subject to the final order.

BORROWING POWERS OF TRUSTEES (SECTION 36A)

No trustee shall borrow moneys (whether by way of mortgage or otherwise), even from Banks, for purpose of or on behalf of the trust except with the previous sanction of the Charity Commissioner and subject to such conditions and limitations as may be imposed by him in the interest or protection of the trust. The trust has to give the names of the prospective lenders and their consent letter along with the application.

PENALTIES (as amended on 18-5-2009) (SECTION 66)

Section	Subject	Fine which may be imposed (₹)
Ss. 18(1), 18(4)	Duty of trustees to apply to Deputy/Assistant CC for registration of Public Trust within time	10,000/-
S. 18(7)	Duty of trustee to send memoranda of immovable property to certain officers/authorities within time	10,000/-
S. 22	Failure to report a change	10,000/-
S. 22B	Failure to make an application within the time provided for	10,000/-
S. 22C	Failure to send memoranda within the time provided for	10,000/-
S. 29	Duty of an executor to apply for registration of a public trust within the time provided for	10,000/-
S. 32	Duty to keep regular accounts	10,000/--
S. 35	Failure or omission to invest money in public securities	10,000/-
S. 59	Failure to pay contribution u/s. 58 by a trustee or by a person charging or collecting dharmada	10,000/-

Section 66A: whoever alienates or attempts to alienate immovable property in contravention of Section 36 shall be punishable with imprisonment up to 6 months or with fine of (₹) 2,50,000/- or with both.

Section 66B: Whoever fails to comply with direction u/s. 41AA as regards medical centres shall be punishable with imprisonment up to 3 months or with fine up to (₹) 20,000 or with both.