MUMBAI: Bombay high court has quashed and set aside a March 14 communication issued by Anju Shende, special officer to former Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar, in his name directing withdrawal of a list of selected trustees to a religious trust in Nashik.The ex-CJ is now a Supreme Court judge and Shende is presently principal district and sessions judge, Pune.Justices Girish Kulkarni and Neela Gokhale on Thursday also quashed and set aside the consequential order of the Srichand Jagamlani, principal district and sessions judge, Nashik, issued on the same day, withdrawing the list from the website and staying it. “We refuse to believe that the directions contained in the impugned communication can, in law, be regarded to be a decision of the then Hon’ble the Chief Justice,’’ they said. Also, it is a clear case Shende has “misused” the name of the CJ “for reasons which are not coming forth on record.”The verdict came on a petition by five candidates among the recommended trustees of Shree Saptashshrungi Niwasini Devi Trust, Nashik. They challenged Shende’s March 12 communication in which she stated that “in pursuance to the telephonic talk at the discretion of the Hon’ble Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court, it is hereby conveyed that the list of recommended trustees… published by your office must be withdrawn from the website and kept on hold until further directions.” Jagamlani, on the same day, issued an order that the “list is hereby withdrawn from the said websites and stands stayed till further directions from the Hon’ble High Court.”Senior advocate Anil Sakhare, for the petitioners, argued there is no provision in Maharashtra Public Trusts Act which concerns HC, its CJ or the SO to issue the impugned communication on the administrative side. Senior advocate Sharan Jagtiani,for Shende, said she would not defend the decision. However, he said the impugned decision “was not taken unilaterally… but on the directions of the Chief Justice.”Sakhare said the selection process culminated in the final list of trustees published on March 12 after a detailed procedure undertaken by Jagamlani, as ex-officio chairman of the Trust. In Sept 2025, a public notice/advertisement was issued and 625 applications were received. A notice of selected and rejected candidates was declared on February 17. Interviews were conducted between March 4 and March 11 and final selection was done on March 12. It was at this juncture that Shende wrote to Jagamlani.Under the trust scheme, five out of the seven trustees have to be appointed by the district Judge. Shende’s communication referred to the Sept 1, 2025 Maharashtra Public Trusts (Amendment) Ordinance, 2025, and stated that Jagamlani should have consulted HC. However, HC judges noted the relevant amendment, by which charity commissioner replaced district judge to appoint trustees, had not come into force when the Shende’s communication was issued on March 14. It came into effect on May 1.In their Oct 27 order, the judges had observed that as per established practice, an office submission is required to be placed before the CJ or the committee judges for approval before orders are communicated to the district judge or whoever. They noted there was no material showing such approval was taken by Shende from the CJ before the March 14 communicatin was issued. Further, that Shende in issuing the impugned communication, “acted with gross impropriety and contrary to law”and such conduct “possibly amouns to serious misconduct” on her part, they added.The judges also said if they were to accord any sanctity to the impugned communication, in the absence of any order obtained from the then CJ, they would be condoning the actions of Shende, “who was holding a position of high confidence” in the CJ’s office, “in usurping the solemnity of the high office.” Merely working with the CJ’s secretariat “would not mean that there is licence to indulge in issuance of such illegal communication and which even the Hon’ble the Chief Justice would otherwise not issue on the administrative side.” They concluded that Shende’s communication “cannot be sustained.”
