Gujarat Public Trusts Act, 2011
[Act No. 23 of 2011]
[07th June, 2011]
Preamble
AN ACT to provide for regulating and for making more effective provisions for the administration of public, religious and charitable trusts in the State of Gujarat and for the matters connected therewith and incidental thereto.
It is hereby enacted in the Sixty-second Year of the Republic of India as follows:-
Section 1 - Short title, extent and commencement
(1) This Act may be called the Gujarat Public Trusts Act, 2011.
(2) It shall extend to the whole of the State of Gujarat.
(3) It shall come into force on such date as the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint.
Section 2 - Definitions
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, -
(1) "Assistant Charity Commissioner" means the Assistant Charity Commissioner appointed under section 6;
(2) "Charity Commissioner" means the Charity Commissioner appointed under section 3;
(3) "Court" means in the City of Ahmedabad, the City Civil Court and elsewhere the District Court;
(4) "Deputy Charity Commissioner" means the Deputy Charity Commissioner appointed under section 6;
(5) "Director of Accounts" and "Assistant Director of Accounts" mean respectively the Director of Accounts and Assistant Director of Accounts appointed under section 7;
(6) "Hindu" includes Jain, Buddhist and Sikh;
(7) "Inspector" means an Inspector appointed under section 7;
(8) "instrument of trust" means the instrument by which the trust is created by the author of the trust and includes any scheme framed by a competent authority or any Memorandum of Association and rules and regulations of a society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 (XXI of 1860.), in its application to the State of Gujarat;
(9) "Joint Charity Commissioner" means the Joint Charity Commissioner appointed under section 4;
(10) "manager" means any person (other than a trustee) who, for the time being, either alone or in association with some other person or persons administers the trust property of any public trust and includes -
(a) in the case of a math, the head of such math,
(b) in the case of a society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 ( XXI of 1860.), its governing body, whether or not the property of the society is vested in trustees;
(11) "math" means an institution for the promotion of the Hindu religion presided over by a person whose duty is to engage himself in imparting religious instructions or rendering spiritual service to a body of disciples or who exercises or claims to exercise headship over such a body and includes places of religious worship or instruction which are appurtenant to the institution;
(12) "person having interest" includes-
(a) in the case of a temple, a person who is entitled to attend at or is in the habit of attending the performance of worship or service in the temple or who is entitled to partake or is in the habit of partaking in the distribution of gifts thereof,
(b) in the case of a math, a disciple of the math or a person of the religious persuasion to which the math belongs,
(c) in the case of a society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 (XXI of 1860.), any member of such society,
(d) in the case of a trust or a society established for educational or medical purposes or both, any resident of the area where such trust is registered or where such trust or society carries on its activities,
(e) in the case of any other public trust, any trustee or beneficiary;
(13) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules;
(14) "public securities" means -
(a) securities of the Central Government or any State Government,
(b) stocks, debentures or shares in Railway or other companies, the interest or dividend on which has been guaranteed by the Central Government or any State Government,
(c) debentures or other securities for money issued by or on behalf of any local authority in exercise of the powers conferred by an Act of the Central or the State Legislature;
(15) "public trust" means an express or constructive trust for either a public religious or charitable purpose or both and includes a temple, a math, a church, synagogue, agiary or other place of public religious worship, a dharmada or any other religious or charitable endowment and a society formed either for a religious or charitable purpose or for both and registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 (XXI of 1860).
Explanation. - A public trust established by a person professing Islam, which does not fall within the definition of "wakf" under the Wakf Act, 1995(43 of 1995) shall be considered as such for the purpose of this Act;
(16) "region" or "sub-region" means the areas designated as such and for which a Public Trusts Registration Office has been established under this Act;
(17) "rules" means rules made under this Act;
(18) "temple" means a place by whatever designation known and used as a place of public religious worship and dedicated to or for the benefit of or used as of right by the Hindu Community or any section thereof as a place of public religious worship;
(19) "tribunal" means the Gujarat Public Trusts Tribunal constituted under section 96;
(20) "trustee" means a person in whom either alone or in association with other persons, the trust property is vested and includes a manager;
(21) words and expressions used but not defined in this Act and defined in the Indian Trusts Act, 1882 (II of 1882), shall have the meaning assigned to them in that Act.
Section 3 - Charity Commissioner
(1) For carrying out the purposes of this Act, the State Government shall, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint a person to be the Charity Commissioner for the State.
(2) The Charity Commissioner, shall exercise such powers and shall perform such duties and functions as are conferred by or under the provisions of this Act and shall, subject to such general or special order as the State Government may pass, superintend the administration and carry out the provisions of this Act throughout the State.
Section 4 - Joint Charity Commissioner
(1) The State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint one or more persons to be called Joint Charity Commissioners who shall, subject to the control of the Charity Commissioner and to such general or special order as the State Government may pass, exercise all or any of the powers and perform all or any of the duties and functions of the Charity Commissioner.
(2) The State Government may, by general or special order, declare a Joint Charity Commissioner to be the regional head to superintend, subject to the control of the Charity Commissioner, the administration in one or more regions or sub-regions, as may be specified in such order.
Section 5 - Qualifications for appointment of Charity Commissioner and Joint Charity Commissioner
(1) A person to be appointed as the Charity Commissioner shall be one -
(i) who is holding or has held a judicial office not lower in rank than that of a District Judge (Selection Grade), or
(ii) who has been for not less than ten years an advocate enrolled under the Advocates Act, 1961 (XXV of 1961), or
(iii) who is a member of All India Service and is qualified to be appointed as the Secretary to Government, or
(iv) who has worked on the post of Joint Charity Commissioner continuously for a period of five years.
(2) A person to be appointed as the Joint Charity Commissioner shall be one -
(i) who is holding or has held a judicial office not lower in rank than that of a District Judge (Entry Level) for not less than five years, or
(ii) who has been for not less than ten years an advocate enrolled under the Advocates Act, 1961 (XXV of 1961), or
(iii) who has worked on the post of Deputy Charity Commissioner continuously for a period of five years.
Section 6 - Deputy and Assistant Charity Commissioners
(1) The State Government may also appoint such number of Deputy and Assistant Charity Commissioners in the office of the Charity Commissioner or for such regions or sub-regions or for such public trusts or such class of public trusts as may be deemed necessary.
(2) A person to be appointed as a Deputy Charity Commissioner shall be one -
(i) who is holding or has held a judicial office not lower in rank than that of a Senior Civil Judge or a Judge of the Court of Small Causes or any office which in the opinion of the State Government is an equivalent office for not less than three years, or
(ii) who has been for not less than seven years an advocate enrolled under the Advocates Act, 1961 (XXV of 1961), or
(iii) who has worked on the post of Assistant Charity Commissioner continuously for a period of five years.
(3) A person to be appointed as an Assistant Charity Commissioner shall be a person -
(a) who is holding or has held a judicial office not lower in rank than that of a Civil Judge for not less than three years, or
(b) who has been for not less than five years an advocate enrolled under the Advocates Act, 1961 (XXV of 1961).
(4) The Deputy and Assistant Charity Commissioner shall exercise such powers and perform such duties and functions as may be provided by or under the provisions of this Act.
Section 7 - Subordinate Officers
For the purposes of carrying out the provisions of this Act, the State Government may appoint, the Director of Accounts and Assistant Directors of Accounts possessing the prescribed qualifications, Inspectors and other subordinate officers and employees possessing such qualifications as may be prescribed and assign to them such powers, duties and functions under this Act, as may be deemed necessary:
Provided that the State Government may, by general or special order and subject to such conditions as it deems fit to impose, delegate to the Charity Commissioner powers to appoint subordinate officers and employees as may be specified in the order.
Section 8 - Charity Commissioner and other officers to be the employees of State Government
The Charity...
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