Sound and secure

Managing 13 trusts/funds, the Surat Parsi Panchayat (SPP) board is the custodian of a total corpus of Rs 171,308,346.58 according to the audited statement of accounts forwarded by their president Dr Sam Bhacca for the financial year ending March 31, 2001. While SPP itself showed a corpus of Rs 76,451,989.44, the next highest corpus of Rs 29,703,931.32 was shown by the Nariman Home. The Alpaiwala Institute recorded the lowest corpus of Rs 188,730.59. The SPP controlling immovable properties valued at Rs 16,404,633.82 earned rent and income from land valued at Rs 455,442 and expended Rs 1,044,859.44 in respect of properties while the Patel School showing the next highest figure of Rs 4,826,554.08 for immovable properties gets a yield of Rs 127,536.

In keeping with the trend of preceding years, the SPP expended the largest sum of Rs 11,534,023.10 on secular education this year as against Rs 10,724,712.62 the year earlier. For medical relief the amount expend­ed was Rs 990,858.50 as against Rs 783,513 in 1999-2000. Towards relief of poverty, the sum spent was Rs 848,470.50 of which Rs 374,560 were distributed as doles to poor Parsis.

During the year under review the SPP received donations from individuals amounting to Rs 226,359 and from public trusts, Rs 128,974.75 with Rs 45,000 specifically earmarked for earthquake relief, bringing the total to Rs 400,333.75. In the previous year they had received Rs 312,026.71 as donations from individuals and public trusts.

Among the other institutions which expend sums on educational causes are the Nariman Parsi Zoroastrian Girls Orphanage which spent Rs 1,305,859.83, the Bai P. M. Patel Singanporwala Girls School, Rs 1,548,420.90, the Surat Parsi Boys’ Orphanage which spent Rs 1,542,300.46, The First Dastur Meherji Rana Trust Fund Rs 88,748, the Seth Sorabji Nauserwanji Parukh Poly­technic Institute Rs 70,932.20, Sorabji Burjorji Dastur Darab Pahlana Trust Rs 56,700 and the Seth K. H. Alpai­wala Industrial Institute for Women and Girls Rs 38,293.

The Bai G. N. Mehta Maternity Hospital spent Rs 196,055 on medical relief as compared to the Seth R. D. Tarachand Parsi General Hospital which showed Rs 1,209,052.58 and the Nariman Home and Infirmary Rs 1,955,572.98. The Dastur Darab Pahalana Trust spent Rs 40,000 towards medical relief.

While the SPP has been forwarding a copy of their audited accounts for the last many years, this year they also reported that they had kept their accounts open for inspection by community members at 13 institu­tions in Surat, notable among them being the Kadmi and the Modi Atash Behrams, Bisni, Goti, Rustompura, Saiyed­pura and Baug-e-Padshah agiaries, the Nanpura and Ookedji Dharamshalas, the Rustompura and Andrews Libra­ries, the anjumans at Gopipura and Nanpura.

Even before Parsiana could study the SPP accounts, we were forwarded a copy of the Gujarat Samachar of October 2, 2001 wherein it was reported that on the basis of a complaint filed by SPP trustee Dr Dhanji­shaw Dumasia alleging mismanagement of funds and autocratic functioning by certain trustees and officials, the central vigilance commissioner had initiated an enquiry via the charity commissioner. On enquiring with Bhacca, Parsiana was promptly furnished a sheaf of documents with a caution that since "reopening of the enquiry (makes it) sub judice, we are advised by our lawyers that at present it should not be published.”

In the meantime the SPP keeps augmenting its funds and continues investing the sums, with their auditors D. N. Shukla and Company attesting "that no money of the public trust has been invested contrary to provi­sions of section 35 of the Bombay Public Trust Act, 1950; that no alienation of immovable property contrary to the provisions of section 35 have come to our no­tice.”