The Bombay Excessive Courtroom on Tuesday raised critical issues over the ‘apathy’ of Mumbai College (MU) that led to siphoning off vintage and historic numismatic cash, which had been to be stored in its museum. The courtroom pulled up MU authorities for not taking concrete steps about the identical for a number of years.
It directed the nonagenarian Dinesh Mody, who had alleged to have offered/auctioned the cash which he had donated to the MU’s museum and people bought within the title of museum, to offer appropriate particulars of such cash nonetheless accessible with him, and deposit them with the prothonotary of the courtroom.
The bench additionally directed the agency that had allegedly auctioned the stated cash, to supply the small print by a further affidavit of these that are nonetheless accessible with it and deposit them within the courtroom, together with the small print of individuals to whom cash might have been offered.
A division bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Amit Borkar was listening to PIL filed in 2014 by Farokh Todywalla, president of Mumbai Coin Society, who claimed by senior advocate Dinyar Madon, that he had offered part of his coin assortment to Mody, the chairman of Dinesh Mody Institute of Numismatics and Archaeology (DMINA), at a low worth in order that they are often donated to the museum.
Todywalla had alleged that Mody was promoting underneath a sequence named ‘Vardhaman assortment,’ the cash belonging to the museum and people bought within the title of the museum.
The petitioner had argued that Mody continued to buy a number of cash and invoiced them within the museum’s title to keep away from 10-15 % service tax.
Mody, nevertheless, had acknowledged that as per donation settlement of Could 28, 1993 between him and MU, solely 7,000 to eight,000 cash had been donated to the museum and the opposite cash solely belonged to him as he had bought them in his private capability between 2009 and 2013.
He had stated that Todywalla’s allegations had been false and had been made out of enterprise rivalry between him and the current auctioneer. The HC had handed an interim order on January 31, 2014, restraining Mody and the auctioneer from placing up for public sale any cash belonging to the museum or bought in its title at any level of time after its institution. It had pulled up MU for its inaction in November 2016.
Emphasising that issues raised within the plea should be seen ‘critically,’ the bench on Tuesday famous within the order, “Info of the case pleaded within the petition reveal as to how apathy on the a part of the authorities of Mumbai College has led to siphoning off its personal property within the type of numismatic cash, which at one level of time had been to be stored within the museum of the College by way of 1993 settlement. The cash that are alleged to be stored within the museum in secure and safe custody, don’t carry with themselves solely the worth of metallic they’re fabricated from, relatively these cash carry historical past and tradition related to them As it’s, as a result of these cash are articles of antiquity, are typically offered on very heavy worth.”
The bench added, “Regardless of acknowledging that cash had been misplaced/siphoned away, nothing concrete has been executed for all these years by MU authorities. As soon as the cash had been donated to the college by Mody by way of settlement, they turned property of the MU, which had been to be preserved and guarded not just for its worth available in the market but additionally for its educational worth and in addition as an object of additional research/analysis and so forth in numerous branches of historical past together with archaeology.”
The HC accepted a request by Mody’s lawyer to file a further affidavit by October 22 and directed him and the auctioneer to deposit accessible cash within the courtroom and posted additional listening to to November 13.
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