Mumbai Charity Commissioner De-Registers Trust Over Extrajudicial Divorces
The Deputy Charity Commissioner for the Greater Mumbai Region has ordered the de-registration of Mohakkama-E-Sharia Darul Quza Rehmaniya, a public trust based in central Mumbai, for allegedly conducting unauthorised extrajudicial Muslim divorces and operating outside its charitable objectives.
The order was passed on August 13 by Rahul Chavan under the Maharashtra Public Trusts Act, 1950. The regulatory action followed complaints lodged by city residents Dr Rizwana Afzal Shaikh and Bashir Ahmed Ibrahim Ulde.
An inquiry into the organisation revealed that the trust had been carrying out Faskh-e-Nikah, a form of marriage dissolution, despite such activities not being part of its registered charitable objectives. The inquiry also established that the trust had failed to comply with statutory requirements, including the submission of mandatory audit reports and change reports.
The Charity Commissioner observed that the trustees were engaged in non-charitable and illegal activities that could adversely impact the rights of women. According to the findings, seven office-bearers of the trust failed to appear before the authority or submit evidence in their defence, despite receiving repeated summons.
Under the directives of the order, the trustees must surrender the original registration certificate within one month. The trust has been strictly prohibited from conducting any further operations or activities under its banner. Additionally, any property found to belong to the trust may be forfeited to the Public Trust Administration Fund.
Legal authorities and experts have reiterated that Dar-ul-Qazas and Sharia councils possess no legal standing as courts under Indian law and lack the authority to exercise judicial powers or deliver binding verdicts. In the 2014 case of Vishwa Lochan Madan v Union of India, the Supreme Court ruled that such bodies cannot take on the role of courts or determine legal rights in an enforceable manner.
Noorjehan Safia Niaz, co-founder of the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, noted that the Indian legal framework does not recognise parallel courts, adding that decisions taken by formal courts take precedence and women retain the right to challenge rulings issued by informal bodies.
