The deputy charity commissioner, Pune region has rejected an application from industrialist Nusli Wadia seeking permission to appoint himself as the chief trustee and his sons Ness and Jehangir as trustees for life of the Modern Education Society (MES).
The MES runs seven educational institutes in Mumbai and Pune, including the DG Ruparel College at Matunga and the New Law College at Dadar in the metropolis.
Its landholdings include a 21-acre plot at Wagholi here and the cumulative value of these assets is worth several hundred crore rupees.
A release from the MES quoted Deputy Charity Commissioner (Pune region) N V Jagtap as stating that this (having a chief trustee and trustees for life) would not be proper in a "democratic set-up" and a balance had to be struck between the management and the teaching community with regard to representation in the trust.
"Instead, Jagtap ruled that the trust should have three members from the Wadia family, three others from the teaching and non-teaching staff of MES and one independent member from the general public who has the experience and eligibility to run the trust," the release said.
In his order issued Friday, Jagtap ruled that the tenure of the trust would be five years.
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While making his observations, Jagtap noted the important contribution of the Wadia family in the development of MES.
"There is no doubt that the Wadia family is playing an important role to establish and develop this society (MES). The Wadia brothers spent a huge amount on the erection of the buildings of the colleges. Otherwise, it is not possible without the Wadias' help to develop the trust," Jagtap said in the order.
Stating that the teaching and non-teaching staff also contributed to run the society, he said it was necessary to give them a reasonable representation on the trustee board.
In a statement issued Saturday, the Wadias contended that Jagtap had ruled in favour of the application made by Nusli and Ness Wadia by appointing them as the first trustees and ordering an elaborate scheme for the management of MES.
The statement said MES, established in 1932 as a public trust, was functioning since its inception with generous philanthropic contributions of land and funds from the Wadia family.
"Earlier, during the year, the Wadias had approached the office of DYCC with a scheme for efficient management of the Wadia colleges as there was no authentic or authorised constitution on record and several illegalities and irregularities in the administration were observed due to the absence of the same," the Wadia statement said.
It informed that the Interim Board of Trustees had already taken charge of the MES office Friday and added that a new COO (Chief Operations Officer) and CFO (Chief Financial Officer) were appointed from the faculty.
The release further stated that with this order of the deputy charity commissioner, the state of affairs, functioning and accountability of MES were expected to improve, which would benefit its students.
Commenting on the development, lawyer Waseem Pangarkar of MZM Legal, who represented MES, said the order was a "big setback" for Wadia who intended to obtain "absolute control" of MES.
Wadia's scheme was earlier opposed by Dilip Joag, grandson of MES founder V K Joag, who had claimed that it was to "usurp and gain control" of the vast properties of MES and oust its prominent members.
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