InfraLive September-15, 2025

Family Tree & Trust Usurpation Moves Explained 19 InfraLIVE September 15, 2025 Group-2: Ms Sushila, Mr Niket, Mr Chetan, Mr Bhavin, andMr Rashmi. After these orders, Ms Kishor and Ms Charu regained control wef January 30, 2024 and appointed TTs & PTs as shown in table. Now, Group-1 is in control of the Trust and the hospital. All of the five members who lost, had filed appeals before the CC. In two cases (Ms Sushila & Mr Niket), the CC, vide two separate judge- ment s dated April 30, 2025 , dismissed their appeals, while in the other three cases, the appeals are pending. Ms Sushila's grievance was that her two extensions for five-year terms as TT beyond 19.10.2011, and beyond 19.10.2016; and change in her tenure from TT to PT wef 16.1.2020, were rejected by the ACC. Mr Niket's grievance was that his change in status from TT to PT was first accepted by the ACC on February 20, 2004, but on an appeal filed by Mr Kishor, the JCC, on May 11, 2015, remanded back the matter to ACC for fresh enquiry. ACC vide its order dated December 14, 2023 rejected the change. After the above judgements, Ms Sushila died, while Mr Niket has filed a review petition before the CC, where the case is pending. Is there any possibility of them getting any success? The chances are nil. Clause-17 of the Trust Deed empowers only the PTs to appoint either TTs or PTs. By virtue of clause-20, the Settlor (Kirtilal Mehta) reserved unto himself the power to appoint not more than five TTs, and after his death, the same power was bestowed upon Vijay Mehta List of Permanent Trustees Sl Name Appointed 1 Ms Charu Kishor Mehta 08.08.1978 2 Rajiv Mehta 14.12.2023 3 Rajesh Mehta 14.12.2023 4 Prashant Mehta 14.12.2023 List of Trustees for 5 year term Sl Name Appointed 1 Sanjay Shroff 20.12.2023 2 Kiran Shah 20.12.2023 3 Saurav Sharma 20.12.2023 4 Mohit Mathur 20.12.2023 5 Tatyaba Palve 20.12.2023 6 Chetan Joshi 11.05.2024 7 Kunal Shah 05.06.2024 2C, who are also fighting against each other. In 2001 & 2002, some members of the Group-2 unlawfully ousted late Mr Kishor and his wife Ms Charu from the Trust and the Hospital. For this, they adopted a method of not notifying about the Trust Board meetings to Mr Kishor & Ms Charu, and showing their absence they used to appoint PTs and TTs of their own liking. From time to time they continually and wrongfully kept appointing them- selves as PT/TT. This way, they took control over the Trust and remained inpower for a period of 17 years. As per the law, any change in the composition of the Trust is required to be filed in the form of a “Change Report” with Public Trusts Regis- tration Office. An aggrieved party can also file objection to the said Change Report (CR), which is adjudicated by Assistant Charity Commissioner (ACC). The change is accepted or rejected by ACC through a reasoned judgement. If the change is accepted, it is given a registration number. An appeal against the judgement can be filed either before the Joint Charity Commissioner (JCC) or Charity Commissioner (CC). The orders of CC/JCC are usually challenged before High Court, but sometime parties can file review be f o r e CC/JCC on t e chn i ca l grounds. On December 14, 2023, the ACC issued five judgements on Change Orders against five members of (another son of Mr Kirtilal) during his lifetime. On demise of Mr Vijay on July 24, 2010, Clause-20 became obsolete and redundant, and Clause-17 remained as the only subsisting clause under which appointments could bemade. As per Trust Deed, a person could become a Trustee only if at least majority of PTs support him/her. Therefore, under the given circum- stances, the coming back of Group-2 is ruled out. Mr Ki r t i l a l was born on February 7, 1907 in a small town of Palanpur State, which is now administrative head- qua r t e r o f Bana s kan t ha district of Gujarat. He joined his family business in Ran- goon, Burma. He lost his father at a young age. He established his own business in Mumbai. He identified the potential in e x p o r t i n g d i amo n d s t o Europe. He pioneered the Indian community's presence in Antwerp, Belgium. His contributions to the business world earned him numerous accolades, including: r The prestigious "Officer of the Order" honor by His Majesty The King of Bel- gium in 1991, the first-ever Indian to receive this rec- ognition. r Leading Exporter Award by the government of India. r Outstanding Exporter Award from the President of Israel. r Honors by the King of Palanpur State. Bhumi Poojan