The Bombay High Court has rejected a trust’s claim to a permanent property-tax exemption merely because it runs linguistic minority educational institutions.
Justices Bharati Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande dismissed Jai Hind Sindhu Education Trust’s petition against municipal tax demands in a September 29 judgment.
The bench held that an exemption under Section 132 of the Maharashtra Municipal Corporations Act requires evidence that the relevant land, building or identifiable portion is exclusively occupied and used for a public charitable purpose. Educational activity or charitable registration alone does not settle that question.
The trust must apply for each financial year, enabling the municipality to assess actual use and supporting material. Commercial activity does not receive the same exemption merely because it occurs within an educational campus.
The court found no basis to interfere with the challenged demands and vacated interim protection. It allowed the trust to seek exemptions for future years with appropriate evidence.
The result leaves room for qualifying charitable educational use, while refusing an automatic exemption based solely on minority-institution status.