Drain on trust funds

On February 18, 2011 a jashan ceremony was performed in memory of the late Beheramsha Panthaky at the pavilion of Panthaky Baug, Andheri. Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) chairman Dinshaw Mehta was present at the function along with BPP trustees Armaity Tirandaz and Khojeste Mistree. After the jashan Mistree spoke of the good work the trustees are trying to do and how they are hampered by court cases filed against them. Such cases have prevented them from giving their total attention to community affairs. He lamented that the BPP had to spend lakhs of rupees in fighting these cases, which was a drain on the trust funds.

On the face of it, the sentiments appeared very laudable. Yet, on March 11, 2011 the Bombay High Court passed an order lifting the ban on the so-called "renegade” priests, Ervads Khushroo Madon and Framroze Mirza. The newspapers later reported that the BPP intends to challenge the order in the Supreme Court.

The BPP is a trust fund for the benefit of Parsi Irani Zoroastrians. It is immaterial whether the beneficiary of the funds is orthodox, heterodox, conservative, liberal, traditional or whatever. The only consideration should be that he/she is a needy and deserving Parsi Irani Zoroastrian. The trustees are supposed to be neutral while deciding the merits of any case irrespective of their personal leanings or the leanings of the beneficiary. So how come the liberal, progressive and more enlightened section of the community is discriminated against and funds are used for the benefit of orthodox elements and the promotion of orthodoxy? This is not the function of the BPP. If the WAPIZ (World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis) trustees on the board of the BPP want to fight for their vapid brand of Talibanic concepts which has no basis in our religion, they should move the courts at their own expense and in their personal capacity.

Our trust funds are meant for the good of the community and for the betterment of its indigent members and certainly not for promotion of ideologies or idiosyncrasies of any individual or group.

DARA M. KHODAIJI

dara_mk@hotmail.com