Pune: The Joint Charity Commissioner of Pune, Rajani Kshirsagar, has ruled that the land located at Survey Number 36 in Kothrud is owned by the Central Gandhi Memorial Trust of Delhi, rejecting the Maharashtra Gandhi Memorial Trust's application for proceeds from the sale of this land.

The dispute, ongoing since 1999, centers around the land and related funds. The issue involves a longstanding conflict between the Central Gandhi Memorial Trust and the Maharashtra Gandhi Memorial Trust over the ownership and funds of the institution’s property.

Originally, the Central Trust had granted partial autonomy to the Maharashtra Trust for managing operations and promoting Gandhian principles.

However, this autonomy was misused when the Maharashtra Trust filed change reports with the Pune Charity Commissioner, listing all properties under its appendix. This led to one acre of land being given to a developer in 1999 for Rs. 1.62 crore, of which Rs. 40 lakh was accepted.

After the Central Trust uncovered these unauthorized transactions, they initiated an investigation.

Advocate Shivraj Kadam Jahagirdar, representing the Central Trust, argued that the Maharashtra Trust had no ownership documents during the hearings. The Joint Charity Commissioner agreed, stating that the property remains under the Central Trust's ownership, rendering any change report-based orders in favor of the Maharashtra Trust unlawful.

Commissioner Kshirsagar’s review confirmed that the sale deed and gift deed still list the Central Trust as the owner, and therefore, the funds from property development rights cannot be claimed by the Maharashtra Trust. Consequently, the application to claim these funds was dismissed.

Advocate Shivraj Kadam Jahagirdar, representing the Central Gandhi Memorial Trust, stated, “This ruling clarifies that the mere approval of change reports and noting in appendices do not transfer ownership in the absence of proper ownership documents.”