Goregaon is the suburb immediately south of Malad, and it is also where a good deal of the litigation from the western suburbs is actually heard: the City Civil and Sessions Court at Dindoshi sits in Goregaon East. For anyone in Goregaon looking for an advocate, that proximity cuts both ways — the court is close, but the Charity Commissioner’s office, where trust and society work is decided, is at Worli.
The Dindoshi court
The City Civil and Sessions Court at Dindoshi handles sessions matters and civil suits for a large part of the western suburbs, which is why so many Goregaon, Malad and Kandivali matters end up there rather than in town. Bail applications, sessions triables, and civil suits above the magistrate’s pecuniary limits are the usual business. Enquiries from Goregaon frequently concern anticipatory bail or regular bail, and these are matters where the papers have to be ready before the listing, not after it.
Trusts and societies in Goregaon
Goregaon has a particular concentration of education societies, medical and community trusts, and older charitable institutions with property — a legacy of the suburb developing earlier than Malad and Kandivali. The recurring issues follow from age: trustee registers that stopped being updated in the 1990s, property held in the name of a trust whose original deed cannot be traced, and accounts that were audited but never filed.
The route back is unglamorous but well defined. Obtain a current extract of the Public Trust Register to establish what the record actually says; file the pending change reports under Section 22 in sequence; bring the accounts and audit up to date. Only once that is done is it realistic to apply for sanction under Section 36 to deal with property, because the office will otherwise raise the compliance gaps before it reaches the merits.
Goregaon also has a large number of registered societies as distinct from trusts — see society registration for how the two differ and why, in Maharashtra, a charitable society carries both registrations.
Film City, studios and the small-business side
The presence of Film City and the studio economy around Aarey Road means Goregaon carries an unusual density of small production units, technical services firms and freelancers, most of them needing the same administrative things as any other small business: a GST registration, an amendment when the constitution or address changes, and occasionally a response to a notice. Contract and payment disputes in that sector very often begin with a properly drafted legal notice, which settles a surprising number of them without proceedings.
Housing societies and property
Goregaon West and the Motilal Nagar and Siddharth Nagar areas have a long history of co-operative housing, redevelopment and the disputes that come with both. Enquiries concern title and property questions, encroachment, and the drafting and service of notices. Where a public trust owns the land, the Section 36 question arises on top of everything else, and it should be identified at the start rather than discovered at the stage of registration.
Women and family matters
Matters under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, maintenance, custody and divorce from Goregaon are heard at the Family Court at Bandra or before the magistrate, depending on the relief. A first consultation is often mostly about what the options actually are — many people arrive believing there is only one, and there usually is not.
Distance and practicality
Goregaon is one station south of Malad on the Western line, and the chambers at Malwani MHADA are a short ride from Goregaon West across Link Road. In practice the travel that matters in a trust matter is not the trip to chambers but the trips to Worli, and those are made on the trust’s behalf rather than by the trustees.
Before the first meeting
- Trust or society: the deed or memorandum, the registration number, the latest register extract, the last audited accounts, and a list of who is currently acting as trustee or committee member.
- Bail: the FIR copy, the sections invoked, the police station, and any notice under Section 41A.
- Property: the agreement, the title documents you hold, and the society’s correspondence.
- GST: the certificate and the notice, with the relevant returns.
Where the trust’s own papers have been lost — which happens often with older Goregaon institutions — the register and the department’s file are usually enough to establish the position and work forward from there.
Where appearances are made
Office of the Charity Commissioner, Maharashtra, Worli; the Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court, Borivali; the City Civil and Sessions Court, Dindoshi, Goregaon; and the Family Court, Bandra.
Chambers and appointments
Chambers are at 704 Classic Building, Gate No. 8, Malwani MHADA, Malad (West), Mumbai 400095. Consultations are by appointment. To fix a time, telephone or send a message on WhatsApp to +91 99301 50560, or use the contact page.
This page describes general procedure and is published for information only, in keeping with Rule 36 of the Bar Council of India Rules. It is not legal advice and does not solicit work. What applies to a particular matter depends on its own facts.