Editorial Viewpoint
Saints or sinners?
Not since the formation of the Committee for Electoral Rights in the early 1980s has a ginger group such as the Alert Zoroastrians Association (AZA) created such an impact on community developments.
Starting out as campaigners for the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) trusteeship candidacy of Maneck Engineer in 2001, to espousing the cause of housing and successfully championing universal adult franchise in the BPP, the trio of Kersi Randeria, Percy Patel and Zeree Jehangirji have become a force to reckon with.
Their most audacious manoeuvre of late was to call a Press conference to pressure the BPP to allot houses to the 104 applicants approved by the previous board of trustees and sanctioned by the Joint Charity Commissioner (JtCC) N. V. Deshmukh. They have also initiated proceedings under section 41D of the Bombay Public Trusts Act to suspend or oust the newly elected trustees from office.
The three are viewed as crusaders by those whose cause they promote and vilified by those who believe the trio have hampered, if not paralyzed, the BPP housing schemes.
So much is the ire they arouse in certain quarters that the chairman of the BPP Dinshaw Mehta alleged in a letter to the Parsi Press that the AZA contributed to the untimely death on January 27, 2009 of the late sitting BPP trustee Rustom Tirandaz.
“It breaks my heart to see that even after all seven Trustees have been elected by the ‘community’ to govern the Bombay Parsi Punchayet, there are yet the likes of Kersi Randeria and the AZA who are persistent in stopping us from serving our community and slowing down our progress. And what did they achieve by doing so, orphaning the community of a man like Rustom. There is no doubt all this affected him immensely and eventually we, the community, lost a great man!”
It is highly unlikely that a veteran of so many political battles and that too against fascist rabble like the Shiv Sena would fall victim to legal maneuvers by the AZA. But Tirandaz’s brother Dinyar at a condolence meet called by the BPP on February 11, 2009 at Dadar’s Sohrab Palamkote Hall lashed out at the AZA for tormenting his brother. Mehta who was present at the meet and scheduled to speak refrained from doing so as he was emotionally distressed.
No doubt had he spoken he would have castigated the AZA leadership. Part of the tirade to damn the AZA could also be to help the candidature of Tirandaz’s widow, Armaity. A humane, thoughtful person, she is believed to be the consensus candidate of five of the six BPP trustees namely Mehta, Arnavaz Mistry, Jimmy Mistry, Khojeste Mistree and Yazdi Desai.
As of now the AZA and the Adult Franchise for Progress (AFP) have not promoted any candidate for the new election. In the last election, of their seven candidates only one, Noshir Dadrawala was elected to office. The likely candidates, Engineer, lawyer Nadir Modi and tax expert Sohrab Dastur have all reportedly turned down appeals to contest.
Aside from gearing up for the elections in April the new board also has to fight their case for allotment before the Bombay High Court (BHC). Deshmukh has given them till March 2, 2009 to comply with his order and refused a requested stay. The BPP will now have to file an appeal and ask for a stay in the BHC before March 2.
The JtCC had given the trustees a long rope, adjourning the matter time and again to permit them to check the bona fides of the allottees. The BPP trustees took the instructions to comply lightly, believing that under section 41D the JtCC only had the power to suspend or dismiss the trustees, not pass orders on allotment.
Sensing the complacency of the trustees, Deshmukh observed “this authority was required to caution them that it would not sit as a silent spectator and would take appropriate action for their failure to proceed further with the allotment process. Such cautions were given only when it was felt from the circumstances on record and also from the grievances made by the beneficiaries that instead of taking steps, the trustees are trying to prolong the matter…It is unfortunate that the legal directions are tried to be interpreted as threats.” Mehta had alleged the previous board agreed to the allotment under pressure from the AZA and the JtCC.
For these and other reasons Deshmukh believed “this is a fit case to invoke powers under Section 41A of the Bombay Public Trusts Act 1950 and to issue necessary direction.” Under Section 41A the JtCC can issue directions relating to “proper administration of a public trust, or for proper accounting of its income, or for appropriate application of the income to the objects of the said trust.” Hence the order on housing allotment.
While the BPP and the AZA battle in the BHC, allocation of flats to the 104 allottees and all others will remain thwarted. The seemingly endless wait just got longer.
In another matter pertaining to ownership housing at Panthaky Baug in Andheri, the AZA and the BPP clashed in the BHC with the two member bench of Justices Swatanter Kumar and Dr D. Y. Chandrachud asking the two high profile lawyers Iqbal Chagla representing the AZA and Rafiq Dada the BPP to counsel their clients to iron out their differences amicably. Whether that is possible or not in such a charged atmosphere with trusteeship elections fast approaching, is a question mark. Both the BPP and the AZA claim they champion the cause of the needy and the deserving. But their legal wranglings are putting paid to the laudable intention of serving the disadvantaged. Both Mehta and Mistree are combative by nature. The AZA is equally adamant. It’s a case of an immovable object meeting an unstoppable force.
It is now time for the community at large and its well wishers in particular to bring the warring factions together and resolve the disagreement. If not, the charitable objective of housing the homeless will remain a distant dream.
Starting out as campaigners for the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) trusteeship candidacy of Maneck Engineer in 2001, to espousing the cause of housing and successfully championing universal adult franchise in the BPP, the trio of Kersi Randeria, Percy Patel and Zeree Jehangirji have become a force to reckon with.
Their most audacious manoeuvre of late was to call a Press conference to pressure the BPP to allot houses to the 104 applicants approved by the previous board of trustees and sanctioned by the Joint Charity Commissioner (JtCC) N. V. Deshmukh. They have also initiated proceedings under section 41D of the Bombay Public Trusts Act to suspend or oust the newly elected trustees from office.
The three are viewed as crusaders by those whose cause they promote and vilified by those who believe the trio have hampered, if not paralyzed, the BPP housing schemes.
So much is the ire they arouse in certain quarters that the chairman of the BPP Dinshaw Mehta alleged in a letter to the Parsi Press that the AZA contributed to the untimely death on January 27, 2009 of the late sitting BPP trustee Rustom Tirandaz.
“It breaks my heart to see that even after all seven Trustees have been elected by the ‘community’ to govern the Bombay Parsi Punchayet, there are yet the likes of Kersi Randeria and the AZA who are persistent in stopping us from serving our community and slowing down our progress. And what did they achieve by doing so, orphaning the community of a man like Rustom. There is no doubt all this affected him immensely and eventually we, the community, lost a great man!”
It is highly unlikely that a veteran of so many political battles and that too against fascist rabble like the Shiv Sena would fall victim to legal maneuvers by the AZA. But Tirandaz’s brother Dinyar at a condolence meet called by the BPP on February 11, 2009 at Dadar’s Sohrab Palamkote Hall lashed out at the AZA for tormenting his brother. Mehta who was present at the meet and scheduled to speak refrained from doing so as he was emotionally distressed.
No doubt had he spoken he would have castigated the AZA leadership. Part of the tirade to damn the AZA could also be to help the candidature of Tirandaz’s widow, Armaity. A humane, thoughtful person, she is believed to be the consensus candidate of five of the six BPP trustees namely Mehta, Arnavaz Mistry, Jimmy Mistry, Khojeste Mistree and Yazdi Desai.
As of now the AZA and the Adult Franchise for Progress (AFP) have not promoted any candidate for the new election. In the last election, of their seven candidates only one, Noshir Dadrawala was elected to office. The likely candidates, Engineer, lawyer Nadir Modi and tax expert Sohrab Dastur have all reportedly turned down appeals to contest.
Aside from gearing up for the elections in April the new board also has to fight their case for allotment before the Bombay High Court (BHC). Deshmukh has given them till March 2, 2009 to comply with his order and refused a requested stay. The BPP will now have to file an appeal and ask for a stay in the BHC before March 2.
The JtCC had given the trustees a long rope, adjourning the matter time and again to permit them to check the bona fides of the allottees. The BPP trustees took the instructions to comply lightly, believing that under section 41D the JtCC only had the power to suspend or dismiss the trustees, not pass orders on allotment.
Sensing the complacency of the trustees, Deshmukh observed “this authority was required to caution them that it would not sit as a silent spectator and would take appropriate action for their failure to proceed further with the allotment process. Such cautions were given only when it was felt from the circumstances on record and also from the grievances made by the beneficiaries that instead of taking steps, the trustees are trying to prolong the matter…It is unfortunate that the legal directions are tried to be interpreted as threats.” Mehta had alleged the previous board agreed to the allotment under pressure from the AZA and the JtCC.
For these and other reasons Deshmukh believed “this is a fit case to invoke powers under Section 41A of the Bombay Public Trusts Act 1950 and to issue necessary direction.” Under Section 41A the JtCC can issue directions relating to “proper administration of a public trust, or for proper accounting of its income, or for appropriate application of the income to the objects of the said trust.” Hence the order on housing allotment.
While the BPP and the AZA battle in the BHC, allocation of flats to the 104 allottees and all others will remain thwarted. The seemingly endless wait just got longer.
In another matter pertaining to ownership housing at Panthaky Baug in Andheri, the AZA and the BPP clashed in the BHC with the two member bench of Justices Swatanter Kumar and Dr D. Y. Chandrachud asking the two high profile lawyers Iqbal Chagla representing the AZA and Rafiq Dada the BPP to counsel their clients to iron out their differences amicably. Whether that is possible or not in such a charged atmosphere with trusteeship elections fast approaching, is a question mark. Both the BPP and the AZA claim they champion the cause of the needy and the deserving. But their legal wranglings are putting paid to the laudable intention of serving the disadvantaged. Both Mehta and Mistree are combative by nature. The AZA is equally adamant. It’s a case of an immovable object meeting an unstoppable force.
It is now time for the community at large and its well wishers in particular to bring the warring factions together and resolve the disagreement. If not, the charitable objective of housing the homeless will remain a distant dream.
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