(De)Pressing matters

Press releases are issued to announce or clarify news of interest to the public. But the press note issued by the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) chief executive M. P. Colah on December 19, 2008 (see "Bombay Parsi Punchayet allotment of flats,” Parsiana, January 7, 2009) pertaining to the allocation of 104 BPP flats has unleashed such a flurry of accusations, counter allegations and retorts that the newly elected trustees will tend to be more circumspect when publicizing information. Colah’s press note was "given by way of general information and transparency by the new Bombay Parsi Punchayet board towards the community.” But at least one of the trustees Noshir Dadrawala states that he was not consulted when issuing the public statement pertaining to the allotment of 104 flats. "I read the ‘Press Release,’ signed ‘for and on behalf of the trustees,’ by the BPP’s CEO (chief executive officer), for the first time in print and that the same was never shown to me before sending it out to the Press. I was even more disturbed by the fact that certain statements were issued to the Press despite my earlier letters and very clear stand at all board meetings with regard to allotment of flats cleared by the previous board,” stated Dadrawala.

The fortnightly WAPIZ Page in the Free Press Journal of January 9, 2009 claimed, "Barring Dadrawala all the new BPP trustees have embarked upon the difficult and time consuming but absolutely necessary task of personally reviewing each individual housing application, fairly and judiciously and deciding the cases on the basis of consensus…

"How many of the 104 cases has Dadrawala personally scrutinized (as all the other trustees are doing, despite constraints of time) for him to vouch for their genuineness? Noshir Dadrawala’s own statement in the same (Jam-e-Jamshed Weekly, January 4, 2009) article that ‘Most of these cases are very genuine’ in fact goes to show that all the cases are not! And yet he continues to resist and refuses to do a thorough review of each individual case. Why? Is he still answerable to his AFP (Adult Franchise for Progress on whose slate Dadrawala contested the BPP trusteeship elections) masters and therefore must do only their bidding? Unlike his AFP masters who want Dadrawala to agree to follow their footsteps blindly, the new trustees have not asked Dadrawala to do anything blindly, but merely to give his time to review with integrity all the cases. Has Dadrawala no time and little inclination to give his best to the BPP!...

"Lastly, how does Dadrawala propose to ‘wipe the tears from the faces of all the long-suffering cases for BPP housing’ (as he has proclaimed in the Parsi Press), when his group [the AZA-AFP (Alert Zoroastrians Association that supported and was part of the AFP) combine] is strenuously resisting and blocking the building of new housing stock, as planned by the newly elected trustees? There are over a 1,000 applicants for housing on the waiting list. Surely, one does not expect a 1,000 homes to miraculously appear out of thin air?”

The WAPIZ Page also alleged "Kersi Randeria and his AZA gang are now brewing trouble for the BPP and the Parsi community by inciting the illegal occupants of the Bhabha Sanatorium against the BPP. Is this AFP-AZA’s plan to tie-up the BPP trustees in endless litigation and thereby prevent them from doing constructive work for the community? AZA now stands for ‘Against Zoroastrians Always!’”

The BPP press note also raised the ire of five of the former BPP trustees: chairman Minoo R. Shroff, Dadi B. Engineer, Dinshaw K. Tamboly, Maneck H. Engineer and Burjor H. Antia. In a letter addressed to the new trustees of the BPP the five stated, "The entire press release is false and misconceived in terms of facts, substance and spirit vis-à-vis the references to the bona fide acts executed by the erstwhile board of trustees regarding the allotment of 104 flats to the beneficiaries of our community in keeping with the directions of the Hon’ble Joint Charity Commissioner (Jt CC).”

"It is not true that there are only 75 flats available for allotment and the suggestion that we, the erstwhile trustees, allotted 104 flats against only 75 available flats is a distortion of the actual facts and an insult to our integrity and intelligence…

"It is rather unfortunate that your press release starts with the suggestion that the allotments were done on the eve of the elections. For the record it is sufficient to state that initially it was the present chairman Mr Mehta who insisted that as trustees we could and should allot flats till our last day in office and the board acquiesced. It is also relevant to note that except Mr Mehta and Mr Maneck Engineer none of the trustees were contesting the elections…

"It is incorrect to have stated in the press release that the Hon’ble Joint Charity Commissioner had ever given threats, verbal or implied, to the erstwhile trustees that they would be removed or suspended.”

BPP chairman Dinshaw Mehta in turn issued a missive dated January 6, 2009 addressed to the five erstwhile trustees terming their letter "absolutely false and distorted.” Mehta alleged that Shroff and Tamboly supported the AFP candidates while Engineer contested on the AFP ticket and therefore the three of them urged the applicants on the waiting list to approach the Jt CC in order to be "assured of at least 400 to 500 captive and committed voters for the ensuing elections in view of the obligation imposed on them…

"It is unbelievable that all of you can so brazenly state that: 1) no out-of-turn allotments were made

2) all allotments were unanimous

3) allotments were not done under threat of (AZA leader) Mr Kersi Randeria and his 41D application for removal/suspension of all of us pending before the Charity Commissioner…

"I had complained and dissented against these out-of-turn allotments but I was overruled by all of you because of Mr Randeria’s terrorism and threats.”

Mehta alleged that the BPP’s office "was raided by the accounts department of the Charity Commissioner to investigate the utterly false and malicious complaint made by Mr Percy Patel of AZA. For three days on 22/12, 23/12 and 24/12 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., several staff from the Charity Commissioner’s office went through all the papers and documents as well as tenders and orders of the period when you all were in charge.”

Mehta asserts "you and your AFP panel have still not reconciled yourself to the loss given by the community verdict and it seems that you cannot swallow the bitter truth that not only did I secure the second highest votes amongst all the candidates but I was elected chairman in spite of all your attempts to prevent it.”

In conclusion Mehta affirmed, "No loose frivolous statements are made in the press release except the truth which being bitter is hard to swallow.”

Refuting the allegations made against him by Mehta and WAPIZ Dadrawala stated in an e-mail dated January 13, "Yes, in all fairness I did agree to review the 104 cases and I did sign the letter to the Charity Commissioner. However, I find that despite the learned Charity Commissioner’s clear orders that ‘no decision on fresh allotments shall be made till the claims of 104 allottees are cleared by the trustees,’ the trustees continue to take up other cases. I therefore did not attend one such meeting and walked out of the meeting held on January 13 in protest since in my view, at this point of time, reviewing cases other than the 104 could tantamount to ‘willfully disobeying a lawful order issued by the Charity Commissioner under the provisions of Section 41 D (b) of the Bombay Public Trusts Act, 1950’… The stand that I have taken is a principled one, backed strongly by the law of the land applicable to public charitable trusts.”