Lending a hand against the ban

The legal battle that petitioners Jamsheed Kanga and Homi Khusrokhan are waging against the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) ban on two priests they term "renegade” received a fillip with the intervention of five leading community members.

Dr Keki Byramji Grant, Tehmtan Rustomji Andhyarujina, Dr Rustom Phiroze Soonawala, Dilnavaz Sam Variava and Anu Rohinton Aga all "from a cross-section of the Parsi Zoroastrian community (who) have interacted with several charities, associations and societies” have stated in their chamber summons before the Bombay High Court that "the ban imposed by the trustees (vide their resolution dated June 9, 2009) is beyond their authority and powers under the trust deed. The powers of the trustees… do not include any powers for deciding on religious matters or for imposing such a ban. This is the question that has been raised for the determination of the court. The religious views of any persons cannot confer or detract from the powers of the trustees under the trust deed.”

The applicants further state they "are not concerned with any individual priest or the personalities involved in the present matter, but concerned only with the serious and grave questions that arise in the Originating Summons (OS) and suit, particularly our right as Parsi Zoroastrians to have funeral ceremonies performed at the Doongerwadi (Towers of Silence) by a person of our choice… and not one who has been imposed by the respondents. The respondent Nos. 2 to 8 (BPP trustees Dinshaw Mehta, Arnavaz Mistry, Jimmy Mistry, Khojeste Mistree, Yazdi Desai, Noshir Dadrawala and Armaity Tirandaz) have no power under the trust deed of 1884 whatsoever to exclude the performance of Zoroastrian religious rites and ceremonies for a Parsi Zoroastrian by any person who is not to the liking of the trustees. The only power of the trustees under the trust deed coupled with a duty is to ensure that Doongerwadi is used for the funeral ceremonies of a person belonging to the Parsi community and professing the Zoroastrian religion.

"We are also concerned with the fact that the trustees have purported that … ‘If any other priest is found to follow in the footsteps of Ervads (Khushroo) Madon and/or (Framroze) Mirza, then similar action will be taken against them as well.’ This resolution is a precursor to other acts and resolutions banning and prohibiting various persons from using and frequenting Doonger-wadi, although they are members of the Parsi community professing the Zoroastrian religion. All such acts and resolutions are patently illegal and in breach of trust deed.”

Mirza had filed an affidavit in court this March stating he supported the BPP and the high priests’ stand on the ban. Justice V. M. Kanade of the Bombay High Court deferred from taking a decision on the OS filed by Kanga and Khusrokhan this March. The petitioners have now filed an appeal before a divisional bench of the court.

The summons notes Grant "is the founder of the Ruby Hall Clinic in Poona, one of the premier medical institutes of western India and is honorary physician to the government of Maharashtra. He is professor emeritus in medicine and cardiology of the B. J. Medical College in Poona and chairman and managing trustee of the Grant Medical Foundation, Poona. He is the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award in the service of Humanity 2007, received from the President of India and the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Indian Medical Association in 2010. Dr Grant holds camps for the needy and underprivileged and… (renders) medical assistance to orphanages and homes for the destitute.”

Andhyarujina, notes the affidavit, "is the former solicitor general of India and former advocate general of Maharashtra and a senior advocate in the Supreme Court of India. He was the chairman of the Committee of Banking Laws (Andh­ya­­rujina Committee) appointed by the Government of India (GOI) in 1998. He is a member of the task force on the Committee on Centre-State Relations Review appointed by the GOI, 2007. He was a part-time professor in constitutional law in the University of Bombay, a visiting lecturer at Queen’s University of Belfast in 1990 and an honorary professor at the National Law School of India University, Bangalore, Symbiosis Law School, Poona and other leading law colleges in India. He is the author of Ju-dicial Activism and Constitutional Democracy in India (1992), Judges and Judicial Accountability (2002) and writes frequently on constitutional and public law in law journals and newspapers.”

Soonawala, an MD, FRCS, FRCOG, FICOG "is professor emeritus at the Seth G. S. Medical College, Bombay, founder president of the Indian Society of Parental Diagnosis and Therapy since 1989 and honorary medical director, Family Planning Association of India (FPAI),” points out the legal document. "He has been chairman and member of various committees and bodies, both governmental and non governmental including the ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) working group on contraception, the Tata Memorial Hospital’s ethics committee, advisory committee of the Ministry of Family Welfare of the GOI and a past president of the Federation of Obstetric and Gynecological Societies of India. Among the many awards he has received are: the Padma Shree for work in family planning, the Von Graffenberg Medal for original work in intra uterine contraception, Prof Ved Vias Puri Memorial Award from the FPAI. He has several publications to his credit as also innovative operation techniques and designs for gynecological instruments.”

Variava has earned her BCom, MBA (Indian Institute of Management — Ahmedabad) degrees. "Over the last 35 years she has carried out extensive voluntary work on environmental, agricultural and rural development issues,” states the chamber summons. "She was chief executive of the World Wild Life Fund — India (WWF-India) for four years, a member of the executive committee of the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) for 30 years, of which she served as vice president for 15. A member of the World Conservation Union’s (now International Union for Conservation of Nature’s) Education Commission and consultant to the Protected Areas Commission, a member of several GOI committees such as the National Committee for Environmental Planning and Co-ordination, the National Conservation Strategy Committee, the National Board for Wildlife and its steering committee, Planning Committee’s expert group on Hill Area Development. She is the co-author of the Management of National Parks and Sanctuaries in India published by the IIPA (Indian Institute of Public Administration). She was the honorary coordinator of the Save Silent Valley Committee, Bombay, chairperson of the working group on the Ecological Foundations for Sustainable Agriculture, a member of the expert committee of the Government of Maharashtra for a 25-year action plan for agriculture, a founder of the Agrivision Coalition comprising over 200 NGOs (non governmental organizations) and individual representatives, chairperson of the Organic Farming and Rural Development Committee of the Rotary Club of Bombay (2005-08). She’s also the managing trustee of the Sahayak Trust (assisting with) rural education in Poona district and Vidarbha and president of the Saraswati Education Society, running schools in Nasik district for rural children.”

Aga, notes the affidavit, "is a non-executive director of Thermax Limited, engaged in energy and environment management. She is a BA in economics, has a postgraduate degree in medical and psychiatric social work from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and was once a Fullbright Scholar. Active in various national and local associations, she was chairperson of CII’s (Confederation of Indian Industries) Western Region. She is very involved in causes of communal harmony and human rights, especially of women and children and works with Akanksha for education of the underprivileged. She is a member of the Commonwealth Human Rights Commission. The recipient of many awards, recently, she has been appointed as a member of the National Advisory Council headed by (Congress party president) Sonia Gandhi.”

Of the original petitioners Kanga was a member of the prestigious Indian Administrative Service and served as the municipal commissioner of Bombay. He was also a former trustee of the BPP and active in social organizations. Khusro-khan was the former managing director of Glaxo, Burroughs Wellcome (India), Tata Tea and Tata Chemicals and is currently on the board of several companies. He is vice president of the BNHS.

The hearing of the appeal petition filed by Kanga and Khusrokhan as well as the chamber summons was to be heard early July. The lawyers for the petitioners and interveners, Dastur Dadhich and Kalambi, Kartikeya and Associates, Iqbal Chagla, Fredun DeVitre and Jimmy Avasia are fighting the case pro bono.