The Bombay Diocesan Trust Association (BDTA) was incorporated as a limited company in 1929 and registered with the registrar of companies as BDTA Limited under the category of non-profit-making companies.
The Bombay Public Trusts Act (BPTA) came into force in 1950. Four years later, the BDTA was registered with the charity commissioner as a trust under the name BDTA Limited.
Since its inception, Christian activist Cyril Dara says, the BDTA has not acquired any property for the benefit of the church or the Christian community. All its moves have been to sell or develop existing church properties.
In 1962, BDTA Limited moved an application before the registrar of companies and changed its name to BDTA Private Limited. But in the records of the charity commissioner, it remained BDTA Limited.
Surprisingly, however, between 1965 and 2002, the charity commissioner's office gave BDTA Private Limited permission several times for the sale of church properties, though the name was not recognised in its records.
In 2001, a faction of the BDTA led by Ashok Sonule challenged this anomaly before the charity commissioner. On investigation, the charity commissioner's office found that BDTA Limited had not filed change reports, which notify the election of new trustees, for 26 years.
On July 17, 2002, the Prabhakar Amolik faction of the BDTA filed 26 change reports in one day, that too in the name of BDTA Private Limited. And the charity commissioner accepted them all.
Sonule challenged this and the hearings continued for two years. In 2004, Sonule filed a new change report in the name of BDTA Limited, which was accepted by the charity commissioner, setting aside the earlier decision to accept the Amolik faction as the real BDTA.
But that was not the end of the matter. The Amolik faction challenged this decision and, in 2007, the charity commissioner once again accepted it as the legitimate body and threw the Sonule faction out.
Sonule is now contesting the matter in the Bombay High Court.
The other factions of the BDTA have also been challenging the change reports with the charity commissioner's office, but so far none of them has gained recognition as the official body.
b_parmar@dnaindia.net
