“World body by end 2003?”

This refers to your coverage of the Federation meeting held in Bombay on June 7 and 8, 2003 ("World body by end 2003?” Parsiana, August 2003). You have quoted me as having said that "occupants of community housing, who got their flats at cost price thanks to a protracted legal battle fought by the Thane trustees, the BPP and the Federation against the Divecha Trust and the non-Zoroastrian developer who took over its land, are pressurizing the trustees to adopt standard cooperative society bylaws so that they can resell their flats at a higher price in the open market.”

While I did make this statement, it was with reference to occupants of Patell Apartments which is a 10-storey building constructed in the Agiary compound. This building which has 80 flats was constructed by the Agiary Trust and the ownership flats were allotted at the concessional rate of Rs 500 per sq ft in 1991. The ruling rates for ownership flats in this prime area at that time was approximately Rs 1,500 per sq ft. Today there is an unfortunate situation of conflict between certain allottees of these ownership flats and the trustees of the Agiary Fund on the question of the rate at which these flats can be resold to other Parsis. The principle that the Trust is trying to establish in approaching the complex problem of community housing at subsidized rate is to ensure that at any time in the future the allottees who have benefitted from the concessional housing scheme do not capitalize by selling the flat at market prices and thereby deny the benefit of concessional housing to the subsequent allottees. This principle has the sanction of the court as per the consent terms signed between the Thana Parsee Zoroastrian Anjuman and the Agiary Trust before the charity commissioner in 1997.

In fact this appproach at regulating the resale price has been very effectively practiced in the Anjuman promoted building — Ahuna, which was built on the Divecha Trust land around 1993 and is situated within a few minutes of walking distance from the Agiary. It would not be out of place to mention that we have received full cooperation from all the members of this society. While at the Ahuna Society, appropriate clauses have been incorporated in the bylaws, to avoid tranfer to non-Parsis and authorizing the Trust to regulate the resale price, there has been a stiff resistance to accepting similar bylaws by some residents of Patell Apartments, thereby holding up even the registration of the society. We are glad to record that at the Ahuna Society, as many as eight to nine out of 48 flats have been surrendered and have been re-allotted at prices that have been regulated, so that while the seller gets a fair appreciation of his assets, the incoming allottee also gets a reasonable concession that is well below the open market price.

We request your readers to react on the larger question of the criteria that should determine the development of trust property for community housing, and adoption of systems that are both fair and sustainable.

R. M. CURSETJI

President, Thana Parsee Zoroastrian Anjuman

Arnavaz Mama replies

Thank you for setting the record straight. Our apologies for the error and any misunderstanding caused.