Bombay High Court quashes a Special Officer's note issued in the Chief Justice's name on a Nashik temple trust

30 October 2026

The Bombay High Court has set aside a communication that a Special Officer sent in the name of the then Chief Justice, asking that a list of recommended trustees of a Nashik temple trust be pulled off the website and put on hold. Justices G.S. Kulkarni and Dr. Neela Gokhale, on a Division Bench, held that the officer had behaved with grave impropriety and against the law, and said the misuse of the Chief Justice's name was a matter of serious concern. The trust involved is the Shree Saptashrung Nivasini Devi Trust at Saptashrung Gad in Nashik district. Five candidates who had been selected in the process for appointing trustees brought the challenge. Their case was that no power is given to the Chief Justice to take such a decision under the Maharashtra Public Trusts Act, so the note was without jurisdiction. The Court noted that the Special Officer's own affidavit put the whole communication down to the Chief Justice and observed that the conduct could amount to serious misconduct.