Of bounces and a bail out

Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) chairman Dinshaw Mehta has bailed out 75-year-old Rustom Mistry who had availed of a business loan from the BPP, defaulted on repayment, was found guilty under the Negotiable Instruments Act, fined and sentenced to six months’ imprisonment because the post-dated cheques he had issued bounced when presented for encashment.

While appreciating Mehta’s gesture in saving an aged Zoroastrian from being placed behind bars for financial impropriety, reader Homi Dalal has sought information relevant to the matter: What is the total amount of outstanding business loans extended by the BPP as of today? What is the single largest sum due from an individual borrower? How many beneficiaries of such loans are there? What is the total sum of such defaults? How many such defaulters are there? How many similar cases have been filed by the BPP u/s 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act?

Dinshaw Mehta: "in my personal capacity”

In an e-mail Dalal mentions that he has done some sleuthing and discovered that Mistry is already known to the BPP, that the late BPP trustee Rustom Tirandaz and many other Parsis allegedly had bailed him out on more than one occasion.

Parsiana requested the BPP chairman for a clarification on Dalal’s queries which was promptly sent. "I have bailed out an old man Mr Mistry from being placed behind bars purely and entirely in my personal capacity on humanitarian grounds,” Mehta responded. "I have not acted in the capacity of chairman of the BPP. Hence I do not see why the BPP (should) be made to respond to queries by one of your readers under the mistaken impression that the BPP had bailed out the defaulter.”