Religious trusts — temples, mosques, gurudwaras, churches, dargahs, and other institutions — add a further layer of complexity. For Hindu religious institutions, state-specific endowment legislation governs the management of temple properties, the appointment and removal of trustees and archaks, and the use of offerings and donations. For Muslim waqf institutions, the Wakf Act 1995 (as amended in 2013 and subject to ongoing legislative revision) governs the creation, management, and dispute resolution of waqf properties. The intersection of religious law, trust law, tax law, and property law in religious institution management creates a specialised practice area that requires comprehensive legal expertise across all of these disciplines.
GP advises charitable trusts, religious institutions, corporate foundations, and family charitable trusts across the full spectrum of their legal and regulatory needs — from the initial formation of the trust through its governance, its tax compliance, its regulatory filings, and the resolution of any disputes between trustees, beneficiaries, or the trust and the regulatory authorities.
GP advises on the formation of charitable and religious trusts — drafting the trust deed, advising on the appropriate structure (public charitable trust, private charitable trust, or Section 8 company as an alternative), and registering the trust with the Charity Commissioner or the relevant state authority. The trust deed is the foundational document — it defines the objects of the trust, the powers and obligations of the trustees, the quorum and decision-making requirements, the provisions for trustee succession, and the dissolution mechanism. A poorly drafted trust deed creates governance problems, tax disqualifications, and regulatory disputes that can persist for decades. GP drafts trust deeds that are specific, complete, and aligned with the settlor's intentions and the trust's long-term operational needs.
Section 12AB registration (the successor to Section 12A following the Finance Act 2020 amendments) is the gateway to income tax exemption for charitable trusts — income applied to charitable purposes is exempt from tax, and the trust pays no tax on its surplus applied for charitable objects. Section 80G registration enables the trust's donors to claim a tax deduction on their donations. Both registrations require specific conditions to be met — the objects must be charitable in the statutory sense, the trust must not benefit specified persons, the accounts must be maintained in the prescribed form, and the annual return must be filed on time. GP obtains Section 12AB and 80G registrations for new trusts and assists existing trusts with renewals, cancellations challenged, and re-registrations following adverse orders.
The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act 2010 governs the receipt of foreign donations by Indian charitable organisations. FCRA registration is required before a trust can accept any foreign contribution — and the consequences of receiving foreign contributions without registration, or of misusing them, are severe — cancellation of registration, penalties, and prosecution. GP advises charitable trusts on FCRA registration applications, annual compliance filings, the use of foreign contributions for specified charitable purposes, the prohibition on transfer of foreign contributions to unregistered entities, and — where a trust's FCRA registration has been cancelled or suspended by the Ministry of Home Affairs — the challenge to the cancellation and the application for restoration.
Disputes within charitable trusts — between trustees, between trustees and beneficiaries, or between the trust and the Charity Commissioner — are among the most complex and protracted matters in Indian civil litigation. GP handles the removal of trustees who have breached their fiduciary duties, misapplied trust funds, or failed to act in accordance with the trust deed; applications to the Charity Commissioner for directions on trust governance; and proceedings in the High Court under Section 92 of the Code of Civil Procedure for the administration of public charitable trusts. For family-controlled charitable trusts, GP also advises on the succession of trustees and on the governance arrangements that prevent the trust from becoming a vehicle for family disputes.
Religious institutions in India are governed by a combination of general trust law and institution-specific legislation. For Hindu temples and religious endowments, state-specific endowment legislation (such as the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Acts in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka) governs the appointment of trustees and executive officers, the management of temple properties, and the use of offerings. For Waqf institutions, the Wakf Act 1995 governs the creation and administration of waqf properties and the role of the State Wakf Boards. GP advises on the governance of religious institutions — trustee appointment and removal, the use of offerings and temple revenues, property disputes, and the interface between the religious institution and the state regulatory authority.
Companies subject to the CSR obligation under Section 135 of the Companies Act 2013 frequently establish their own charitable foundations as the vehicle for CSR spending. The CSR foundation must be a public charitable trust, a Section 8 company, or a registered society — and the CSR spending must comply with Schedule VII of the Companies Act and the CSR Rules 2014. GP advises on the formation of CSR foundations, their Section 12AB and 80G registration, the eligible activities under Schedule VII, the impact assessment requirements for large CSR spends, the annual reporting obligations, and the consequences of non-compliance with the CSR mandate. For large business groups with multiple CSR foundations, GP advises on the consolidation and rationalisation of the foundation structure.
The Office of the Charity Commissioner, Maharashtra, is the primary regulatory authority for public charitable trusts registered under the Bombay Public Trusts Act 1950 — which governs trusts in both Maharashtra and Gujarat. The Charity Commissioner has wide powers: to register trusts, to remove trustees, to give directions on trust administration, to approve property transactions by trusts, and to refer matters to the High Court. GP appears regularly before the Charity Commissioner in Mumbai in trustee removal proceedings, trust property transactions requiring Charity Commissioner sanction, scheme applications for modification of trust objects, and challenges to Charity Commissioner orders. The Charity Commissioner's orders are appealable to the Bombay High Court.
The cancellation of FCRA registration by the Ministry of Home Affairs — which has occurred with increasing frequency since 2015 — is a regulatory crisis for any charitable organisation that relies on foreign funding. Cancellation means immediate loss of the right to receive foreign contributions, freezing of the FCRA-designated bank account, and the possible requirement to return unspent foreign contributions. GP advises organisations facing FCRA cancellation show cause notices, challenges the cancellation by way of representation to the MHA and — where necessary — by writ petition in the Delhi High Court, and manages the compliance remediation required to support an application for restoration of FCRA registration.
Section 92 of the Code of Civil Procedure empowers the High Court, on the application of the Advocate General or two or more persons having an interest in the trust, to make orders for the administration of a public charitable or religious trust — including the removal of trustees, the appointment of new trustees, the settlement of a scheme for the trust's administration, and the vesting of trust property in new trustees. GP files and responds to Section 92 applications in the Bombay, Delhi, Karnataka, and Madras High Courts in matters involving public charitable trusts where the governance has broken down, where trust property has been misapplied, or where the trust deed needs to be modified to reflect changed circumstances.
A charitable trust needs legal advice on its formation, governance, and dispute resolution — and tax advice on its Section 12AB registration, its Section 13 compliance, and its FCRA obligations. These two disciplines are deeply intertwined — the legal structure of the trust determines its tax eligibility, and the tax rules constrain the governance choices. GP provides both from one team — the trust deed drafter and the tax adviser working together, ensuring that the trust's legal structure supports its tax position and that the tax position is maintained through the trust's governance choices.
Trust disputes — trustee removal, misapplication of funds, governance deadlocks — require representation before the Charity Commissioner, the ITAT (for tax exemption disputes), and the High Court (for Section 92 proceedings and Charity Commissioner appeals). GP appears across all three forums — with the same team managing the matter from the Charity Commissioner stage through the High Court — and with GP's forensic accounting team available where misapplication of funds needs to be quantified and proved.
India's charitable sector receives significant funding from the NRI diaspora — from the UAE, UK, USA, Canada, and Australia. GP's NRI practice gives the trusts team direct expertise in the FCRA framework for overseas donations, the tax treatment of NRI donations in the recipient's and donor's home jurisdictions, and the structure of philanthropic giving for NRI families who want to support Indian charitable causes while maintaining the tax efficiency of their donation. For NRI trustees of Indian charitable trusts, GP advises on the obligations and liabilities that trusteeship carries and on the practical management of trustee responsibilities from outside India.
Represented a Mumbai-based educational trust whose Section 12A registration was cancelled by the Commissioner of Income Tax on the grounds that the trust's payment of a salary to its managing trustee constituted a benefit to a "specified person" under Section 13(3). GP appealed to ITAT, establishing that: the managing trustee was performing genuine management services for the trust for which market-rate remuneration was paid; the trust deed expressly permitted reasonable remuneration for services rendered; and the payment was not a distribution of trust income but a legitimate operating expense. ITAT accepted GP's argument, held that market-rate remuneration for genuine services does not violate Section 13, and reversed the cancellation of the Section 12A registration. The trust's tax-exempt status was restored with retrospective effect.
Acted for the co-trustees of a Mumbai family charitable trust in proceedings against the managing trustee who had caused the trust to make payments of Rs.1.8 crore to companies owned by his relatives — characterised in the accounts as charitable grants but in fact payments for services never rendered. GP's forensic accounting team traced the fund flows and identified the payments to related parties. GP filed a trustee removal application before the Charity Commissioner under the Bombay Public Trusts Act, producing the forensic report as evidence. The Charity Commissioner removed the managing trustee and directed the recovery of the misappropriated funds. The managing trustee appealed to the Bombay High Court, which confirmed the Charity Commissioner's order and upheld the removal.
Acted for a Delhi-based health NGO whose FCRA registration was cancelled by the Ministry of Home Affairs, allegedly on the grounds of diversion of foreign contributions to non-charitable purposes. GP filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court, establishing: that the cancellation order did not specify the precise instances of diversion with particulars sufficient to enable the NGO to respond; that the NGO had not been given a meaningful opportunity to respond before cancellation, in violation of principles of natural justice; and that the evidence cited by the MHA in the cancellation order was based on a mischaracterisation of the NGO's grant-making activities. The Delhi High Court quashed the cancellation order on the ground of natural justice violation and directed the MHA to issue a fresh show cause notice with full particulars — following which the FCRA registration was ultimately restored.
The practice covers the Charity Commissioner (Maharashtra), the Income Tax Department and ITAT for Section 12AB and 80G disputes, the Ministry of Home Affairs for FCRA matters, and the Bombay, Delhi, Karnataka, and Madras High Courts for Section 92 CPC proceedings and appeals from Charity Commissioner orders.
For charitable trusts with forensic accounting issues — misapplication of funds, related-party transactions, or disputed accounts — GP's in-house forensic accounting team provides the financial investigation capability that the litigation requires.
The complete guide to the Finance Act 2020 changes to charitable trust registration — the re-registration process, the Section 13 specified persons rules, and the most common compliance failures that trigger cancellation.
Read Insight →The practical guide to FCRA compliance for Indian NGOs — the most common grounds for cancellation, the immediate steps when a show cause notice arrives, and the High Court challenge that can preserve FCRA registration.
Read Insight →Whether you are establishing a new charitable trust, dealing with a Section 12AB registration issue, facing an FCRA compliance crisis, or handling a trustee dispute — GP provides the complete legal and tax capability that charitable and religious trust matters require.