Collector cancels donation of 8,582 coins to Mumbai univ
Dinesh Mody seeks to cancel his 30-year-old donation of 8,582 coins to the University of Mumbai, citing poor maintenance and auction sales.
MUMBAI: Three decades after donating 8,582 numismatic coins – coins of historical value - to the University of Mumbai (MU), numismatist (coin collector) Dinesh Mody now seeks to cancel the donation and has filed an affidavit before the Bombay high court to initiate the process. Mody, now 93, has also deposited 6,212 coins with the court registry, pursuant to a court order.
The order was passed by the division bench of chief justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and justice Amit Borkar on a PIL filed by numismatists Farokh Todywalla and Kishore Jhunjhunwala, complaining that the coins purchased in the name of the university were being sold in auction. They had also submitted two invoices that showed Mody had purchased the coins in the name of the university museum but had placed 45 of those coins for auction.
Mody, however, claimed that the coins were purchased by him in individual capacity, but in the name of the museum in order to save the 10% commission required to be paid to the auctioneer.
In his October 25 affidavit, Mody had stated that the university has kept the museum under lock from June 9, 2014, and has failed to maintain the coins.
The bench observed that nothing concrete had been done by the university over the years with regard to the coins and, therefore, directed Mody to deposit the coins with the high court registry.
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