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BOMBAY PUBLIC TRUSTS ACT The BPT Act, on the other hand, was enacted to regulate and to make better provision for the administration of public religious and charitable trusts in the State of Bombay.

Section 2 is the interpretation clause. Section 2 (10) defines "person having interest" to include in the case of a society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 any member of such society. Section 2(13) defines "public trust" to mean "an express or constructive trust for either a public religious or charitable purpose or both and includes a temple, a math, a wakf, 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. A "trustee" has been defined to mean a person in whom either alone or in association with other persons, the trust property is vested and includes a manager.

Chapter IV of the Act provides for registration of public trusts. The said Chapter makes the registration of public trust compulsory. Section 17 ordains keeping and maintenance of such books, indices and other registers as may be prescribed in every Public Trusts Registration Office or Joint Public Trusts Registration Office. Such books, indices and registers would contain such particulars as may be prescribed. Section 18 imposes a duty upon the trustee of a public trust to make an application for the registration of the public trust in writing and would contain such particulars as mentioned in Sub-section (5) of Section 18. Clause (iii) of Sub-section (5) of Section 18 provides that the list of the movable and immovable trust property and such descriptions and particulars as may be sufficient for the identification thereof shall be stated as and when such application for registration of the trust is filed. Section 19 provides for an Inquiry for registration for the purpose of ascertaining:

(d) The defendants No. 1 to 4 and their associates may be restrained from acting in the name of the First District Church of Brethren and from collecting funds, donations, etc. in that name.
(e) The defendants Nos. 1 to 4 may be directed to pay to the plaintiffs the costs of this suit."

DETERMINATION:

The plaint nowhere suggests that the society and the trust had ever been treated as two different entities. No case has been made in the plaint to the effect that the society as registered under the Societies Registration Act plays any role or discharges any function which is not done by the trustees of the trust. It also does not appear from a perusal of the plaint that the society and the trust comprises of different persons or for different functions to perform. In fact in paragraph 2 of the plaint it is accepted that the Church which was registered as a society under the Societies Registration Act was a public trust as defined under Section 2(13) of the BPT Act. The ownership of movable and immovable properties at the places mentioned in the plaint is referable to the congregations under the Brethren Church. It is not alleged that whereas the properties belong to the trust it was managed by the society. The plaint furthermore does not disclose that the decision as regard dissolution of the churches and congregation of Brethren Church had been taken by anybody other than the trustees. The committees constituted for the aforementioned purpose, viz., Continuation Committee and Negotiating Committee, evidently were represented by the authorities of the congregations and not of any society. A decision, as would appear from the averments made in paragraph 6 of the plaint, to dissolve six uniting Churches and merge the same into one, viz., the Church of Northern India (C.N.I.) so as to make the latter a legal continuation and successor of the United Churches and all the properties, assets, obligations, etc. of these uniting churches would vest in or dissolve on C.N.I. The very fact that a decision having been taken as regard the properties, assets, obligations of the United Churches, the same would mean that they would vest in the trust to be created for the said purpose and not for the benefit of any society.

In Suresh Ramniwas Mantri and another Vs. Mohd. Iftequaroddin s/o Mohd. Badroddin [1999(2) Mh.L.J. 131] it was observed that a society although formed either for religious or charitable purposes or for both cannot be held to a public trust ipso facto although registered under the Societies Registration Act unless it is registered also under the BPT Act as the question whether such a trust was validly formed or not would come within the purview of Sections 18, 19 and 20 of the BPT Act. In that case the plaintiff was not registered as a public trust and in that situation it was held that Section 80 would operate.