Author: Express News Service
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: November 29, 2003
URL: http://cities.expressindia.com/archivefullstory.php?newsid=69389&creation_date=2003-11-29
Introduction: Citizen files plea
over big donation by Siddhivinayak
The trust that governs the famous
Siddhivinayak Ganpati Temple in Dadar is in the eye of a storm.
Through a public interest litigation
filed in the Bombay High Court, Kewal Semlani, a Mumbai resident, has objected
to the sanction of Rs 86 lakh to an NGO run by the then minister for law
Vilasrao Patil- Undalkar.
The minister was himself a sanctioning
authority for the distribution of funds by this trust (in his official
capacity) in the year 2000.
Semlani has sought transparency
in allocation of funds by the trustees to various other NGOs.
The Dada Undalkar Smarak Samiti
based in Karad (Western Maharashtra) was granted Rs 86 lakh in the financial
year 2000-01. The samiti was formed and established to perpetuate the memory
of Patil-Undalkar's father, whose department accorded the sanction on behalf
of the state government.
The Siddhivinayak Temple Trust is
governed by a special legislation enacted by the state legislature in 1980.
Under the act, the trust is directly under the jurisdiction of the state's
Law and Judiciary Department and not the charity commissioner.
The government appoints 7 to 11
trustees including chairman and treasurer. Since the temple attracts a
large number of devotees who also offer huge donations, Siddhivinayak is
flush with funds. The trust distributes this surplus money for social work.
The petitioner, has, however, alleged
that absence of guidelines for disbursement of trust funds has resulted
in these funds being misused.
The former minister was not available
for comment.
The three-year term of the trustees
appointed by the Democratic Front government in 2000 expired in October
2003. Rajiv Chavan, ex- treasurer said: "The allotments the petitioner
is referring to happened prior to October 2000 when the trust was governed
by other trustees appointed by the previous Sena-BJP government.
Temple facts
* Siddhivinayak temple was built
on November 19, 1801.
*1.5 to 2 lakh people visit the
temple every Tuesday.
*The temple's trust in the second
richest in the state after the Sai Baba temple at Shirdi
