Hosbet Suresh takes over

The appointment of retired Justice Hosbet Suresh to head the panel verifying the list of eligible candidates from the Parsi Irani community for allotment of flats by the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) was consented to by both the BPP and its opponents on August 16, 2010, reported The Times of India (TOI) in its issue of August 17. The verification by the one-member panel will take six to eight weeks, the newspaper noted.

With the resignation of retired Supreme Court Justice B. N. Srikrishna, who had been earlier assigned the task, there were fears that many Parsi families would have to wait even longer for BPP accommodation. Srikrishna had stated in his resignation letter that he found it impossible to complete the verification proceedings for the BPP flats within six weeks, as directed by the High Court, mentioned TOI on August 16, 2010.

BPP chairman Dinshaw Mehta and four other trustees then filed an application before the High Court requesting it to modify its October 2009 order setting a six-week deadline so that Srikrishna could complete his inquiry. "Eighty-nine flats are available for allotment to needy Parsi Zoroastrian families in Bombay and are lying vacant,” mentioned Mehta’s application which stated that starting the process afresh would result in further delay, reported TOI. However, persons who featured in the earlier allotment and BPP trustee Noshir Dadrawala, who are on the opposing side, were averse to any modification of the deadline.

But, when the case was heard in the High Court on August 16, both sides agreed to the appointment of Justice Suresh, a leading human rights activist who has worked extensively for civil liberties in India.