Nothing religious about Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust

The announcement of the new board of trustees by the state government at the Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust, Shirdi, has irked the residents of the temple town as three former members, including the chairman, find place in the new board.

The government who has the power to nominate members to the Shirdi trust has once again reinstated former MLA Jayant Sasane as the chairman.

Minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil and Congress leader from Nashik Shailesh Kute also have their seats retained in the 15 members announced so far.

The Aurangabad bench of the Mumbai high court had dissolved the earlier trust board that had an elongated term. The term of the trust board in Shirdi is for three years, but the then incumbent team enjoyed their posts for nearly eight years.

Giving its verdict on a PIL filed by Sandeep Kulkarni and Rajendra Gondkar from Shirdi, on March 13, 2012, the HC bench had dissolved the board and asked the government to appoint new trustees within 15 days.

Among the new board members are — former MLA and chairman of the trust Jayant Sasane as chairman again; Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Ahmednagar district chief Ghamshyam Shelar as vice chairman; agriculture minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil finds a place once again a trustee; along with Congress leader from Nashik, Shailesh Kute; Surendra Kharde, Mininanath Pandey, Ajit Kadam, Patangrao Shelke, Snehalata Kolhe, Dr Rajendra Pipada, Suresh Wadhwa, Dr Namdev Gunjal, Dr Prakash Nandurkar and Sumitra Kote.

Most of the appointments are seen as political rehabilitation by the Congress and the NCP. Kute is said to have been compensated for his withdrawal against official Congress candidate Shobha Bachchav in the last assembly elections; Kharde is known to be Vikhe opponent and a strong NCP leader from Kolhar in Ahmednagar district; Pandey is a director of Sangamner Sugar Factory; Kadam, a relative of deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, is a NCP leader from Deolali-Pravara region; Shelke is the director of Ganesh Sugar Factory in the region; Kolhe is the daughter-in-law of Shankerrao Kolhe, who was a trustee in the previous board and a defeated member in the last assembly elections; Pipada who had fought the assembly elections against Vikhe-Patil as a Shiv Sena candidate has since then returned home to NCP and is also seen as Vikhe opponent and has been the sarpanch of Kolhar; Wadhwa is a builder from Mumbai; Nandurkar is also a doctor from Mumbai; Gunjal is an agricultural expert, while Kote, the incumbent president of Shirdi Municipal Council, finds a seat as a nominated candidate by virtue of her post.

While the CM has announced 15 names to the 17-member body, two are yet to be announced. Among them are nine members from the NCP and six from the Congress. The Congress still has the privilege to announce two more names.

The board at Shirdi trust comprises 17 trustees. The members of the last board were appointed in 2004 first and had got extension to second term in 2007.

In the PIL, the petitioners had pleaded that the appointment to the board be according to Section 5 of the Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust, Shirdi Act, which states that the trust body be constituted of Sai devotees and experts like doctor, engineer, architect, CA, etc.