Avinash Kumar Tiwari v Charity Commission of England and Wales

The appeal is struck out pursuant to rule 8(2)(a) of the Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (General Regulatory Chamber) Rules 2009 (SI 2010/43), as amended (Footnote: ¹).

In an email sent to the Appellant on 22 October 2024 at 14:08, the Charity Commission for England and Wales, acknowledged a complaint made by the Appellant and said they were not going to investigate or otherwise take forward complaints made by the Appellant against a particular charity.

By GRC1 dated 21 November 2024, the Appellant lodged proceedings at this Tribunal, the outcome sought (see section 8 of the GRC1) was for the charity (whose name is not relevant to this decision) be revoked from the register of charities. Various documents (amounting to over 150 pages) were provided in support of the appeal.

By Case Management Directions dated 06 January 2025, the Appellant was invited to state why he said that the Tribunal (whose jurisdiction over the Charity Commission of England and Wales is confined to the provisions listed in the Charities Act 2011, Schedule 6) has jurisdiction to consider the Appellant’s appeal.

The Appellant replied with a further almost 100 pages of documents. Included within them are submissions which specify that the Appellant believes an appeal is valid because of a “Order made by the Commission under section 83(2) which suspends a person’s membership of a charity”: the Charity Commission has made no such order. Further, reliance is placed on “Order made by the Commission under regulations made by virtue of section 245 vesting property held by the official custodian in a charity or charities”; again, the Charity Commission has made no such Order (and I note that such regulations would relate to “winding up, insolvency and dissolution” of a charity, which do not appear to be issues relevant to the Appellant’s complaint).

The Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (General Regulatory Chamber) Rules 2009 (SI 2010/43), as amended (Footnote: ²) are clear that if this Tribunal does not have jurisdiction, it must strike out an appeal (see rule 8(2)(a)). I find that this Tribunal does not have jurisdiction as the Charity Commission of England and Wales has not made a decision which this Appellant has the right to appeal to this Tribunal. As this Tribunal never had jurisdiction, transfer to a different court or tribunal is also not open to this Tribunal.