Almost every serious piece of business a public trust does — opening a bank account, applying for a grant, buying or selling property, applying for income tax registration, dealing with a government department — will at some point require a current extract from the Public Trust Register. Trustees are often asked for “the Schedule I” without being told what it is. This note explains what the register holds and how an extract is obtained.
Key facts
- Shows
- The trust’s name, PTR number, trustees or manager, property and objects as entered in the Public Trust Register
- Who asks for it
- Banks, buyers’ advocates and funders
- Where
- The regional Deputy or Assistant Charity Commissioner’s office; for Greater Mumbai, the Worli office
- How recent
- Institutions often want one issued in the last three or six months
- Out of date?
- File pending change reports (ordinarily within 90 days, Section 22)
What the register is
The Maharashtra Public Trusts Act, 1950 requires the Charity Commissioner’s office to keep a register of public trusts for each region. When a trust is registered following the inquiry under Section 19, the findings are entered in that register. The register is the official record of the trust’s existence and of the basic facts about it.
What it records
Broadly, the entries mirror the particulars that had to be given in the Schedule II application under Section 18:
- The name or designation of the trust and its registration number (the PTR number)
- The names and addresses of the trustees or manager
- The mode of succession to trusteeship
- The movable and immovable property of the trust, with descriptions and approximate values
- The objects of the trust
- The gross average annual income and average annual expenditure
- The address for correspondence
Because these are the recorded entries, they are also the things that trigger a change report under Section 22 when they change. A trustee resigns, a new trustee is appointed, the trust buys a flat, the office address changes — each of those is a change in an entry, and each has to be reported, ordinarily within 90 days.
Why the extract matters so much
Third parties rely on the register rather than on the trust’s own paperwork. A bank will not accept a board resolution naming trustees if the register still shows a different set of names. A purchaser’s advocate examining title to trust property will look at the register entries and at whether the required Section 36 sanction was obtained. A funder will check that the trust is registered and that the signatories are the recorded trustees.
This is the practical reason trustees are urged not to let change reports pile up. The register is the version of the trust that the outside world treats as true. If it is three appointments out of date, the trust cannot transact cleanly, and the problem usually surfaces at the worst possible moment — in the middle of a property transaction or a grant application with a deadline.
Getting a certified extract
An extract is obtained by applying to the Deputy or Assistant Charity Commissioner’s office for the region in which the trust is registered, with the trust’s registration number, paying the prescribed fee, and collecting the certified copy. For trusts in Greater Mumbai this is the regional office at Worli. Much of the department’s work has moved online, and the position on what can be applied for and downloaded electronically changes from time to time, so it is worth checking the current position at the office or on the department’s portal before making a trip.
Two practical points. First, an extract reflects the register as it stands on the day it is issued — it does not reflect a change report that has been filed but not yet recorded, which is why pending change reports are often disclosed separately in a transaction. Second, institutions frequently insist on an extract issued within the last three or six months, so it is sensible to check how recent a copy the recipient will accept before applying.
If the entries are wrong
If an entry is inaccurate rather than merely out of date — a name misspelled, a property wrongly described, an object recorded incorrectly — the route is still a report to the office so that the entry can be corrected after inquiry. It is not something the trust can fix by passing a resolution of its own. Where an entry is disputed between trustees, or where someone objects to a proposed change, the matter becomes contested and is decided by the officer after hearing the parties; that is closer in character to a trustee dispute than to routine compliance.
This note sets out general information about procedure under the Maharashtra Public Trusts Act, 1950. It is not legal advice, and the position in any particular matter depends on its own facts and on the law as it stands at the time. Statutory references should be checked against the current text of the Act and Rules.
Related service: Charity Commissioner Proceedings in Mumbai
See also: PTR number and how to check a trust online.