Majority report

Drama over DAC meet
Countering Mehta’s move to convene a Doongerwadi Advisory Committee (DAC) meeting on April 11, 2014 Desai sent out the following email dated April 8, 2014 to his co-trustees and the other members of the DAC.
"You will agree that once the majority of the BPP board has decided that the DAC meeting should not be held at this juncture, Mehta has no locus standi to call any meeting except in his personal, individual capacity. Therefore for Mehta to use the BPP letterhead and sign the notice as chairman, is one more example of the high-handed and unilateral manner in which (he) has been misusing the BPP and the office of the chairman, as per his whims and fancies to further his own personal interests.
"If Mehta wants to have an ‘informal meeting,’ he can have it at his residence or maybe at his foundry in Foras Road, but he cannot misuse the Doongerwadi bunglis to hold private, informal meetings. In any case, any decision taken at such an informal meeting is not binding on the trust or the trustees, unless ratified by the BPP board.
"To clarify, the majority of trustees are not in favor of holding any DAC meeting for the present because Dinshaw Mehta has made a mockery of the DAC members by unilaterally and arbitrarily authorizing the dumping of 300 trucks of matti (soil) on the sacred Doongerwadi lands from a nearby construction site, without consulting the BPP board or the DAC… The matti has been dumped without any soil investigation being done to ascertain whether the matti is fit for the supposed plantation of more trees. The four feet of matti piled loosely on the sacred Doongerwadi land poses a serious threat of landslides during monsoons, endangering the Godrej Baug precincts and also threatens to breach the long internal stone wall just after the bunglis.
"Further, Mehta comes under a cloud of suspicion for favoring the builder who has saved in excess of Rs 20 lakhs by being allowed to dump the excavated matti from the construction site onto our sacred Doongerwadi lands, barely two kilometers away. Because otherwise the builder would have to truck this huge amount of matti to a place beyond the limits of Bombay at considerable expense. The builder would also have had to take permission of the authorities and would have had to pay royalty running into lakhs of rupees to the Government. It is regrettable that Mehta continues to use sacred community property as his own personal fiefdom...
"It is my earnest request to Homai Modi, Mithoo Jesia, Mahiyar Dastoor and especially to Dasturji Peshotan Mirza, Dasturji Khurshed Dastoor, Ervad Pervez Bajan and Ervad Ramiyar Karanjia (others on the DAC include all the seven trustees of the BPP — editors), to ignore this invitation of Mehta, to an informal meeting, so as to save the august offices of the High Priest and the scholar priest, from being manipulated and misused by Mehta who, having been reduced to a minority on the BPP board and shorn of his power, is now clearly showing signs of desperation.”
In response to Desai’s email thrashing the DAC meet Mehta sent an email dated April 10, 2014: "I must clarify that this informal meeting is being called by me as the chairman of the BPP having noted several of Jimmy Mistry’s comments that Doongerwadi was not being properly looked after and it was going to the pits... There are several other issues too that need to be looked into and as chairman and trustee I have every right to call for such meetings and see no harm in doing so especially since this meeting is required in the larger interest of the Trust. It may be noted that in my invitation, sent even to the four dissenting trustees, I had categorically informed all and admitted that four majority trustees were against holding any DAC meeting and hence I was calling only an informal meeting and they could attend if they so desired.
"In fact, to bring to the DAC’s attention, last week three of the current trustees (Yazdi Desai, Khojeste Mistree and Arnavaz Mistry) had a private meeting with the employees of Doongerwadi and their Union representative at the Doongerwadi premises without informing any other trustee or members of the DAC… After the meeting, rounds were taken of the Doongerwadi premises by the trustees along with some staff… The three trustees are hereby called upon to explain why this secretive meeting was held...
"Khojeste Mistree obviously bears grave animosity against certain members of the DAC since he was unceremoniously voted out with his proposal against the use of pesticides at Doongerwadi to curb the termite infestation, even after some property at the Doongerwadi was damaged due to a corroded tree falling down. He has been against the use of these pesticides for some bizarre pseudo religious reasoning which was rightfully voted against by the DAC and the trustees and instead Dr Homi Dhalla in detail explained to the DAC the pertinent need to spray this pesticide over Doongerwadi to save the greenery and property from termites as it was successfully being done in green belts of the city. It was only thanks to the timely intervention by Dr Dhalla and other DAC members that the entire property was saved and Doogerwadi is back to its pristine greenery. Whilst Khojeste Mistree was in charge of Doongerwadi there were constant complaints from the staff that they were not allowed to maintain the property in a proper manner since he opposed every move of the staff based on his pseudo religious practices. It was then decided that some professionals with knowledge on the subject of upkeep of Doongerwadi as well as other eminent Parsis and the respected High Priests be appointed onto a Committee solely for the upkeep and maintenance of Doongerwadi. Since the reinception of DAC in around 2012-13, the Committee has been undertaking great responsibilities in maintaining Doongerwadi properties.
"I will not be surprised, in order to appease the ego of Khojeste Mistree and Yazdi Desai, (if) the four trustees using the majority on the board abolish the DAC altogether and hand over control of Doongerwadi back to Khojeste Mistree. This obviously seems to be the agenda of these trustees which explains why they visited Doongerwadi and had meetings with the staff, unilaterally gave instructions to them to stop all work regarding bringing the red garden soil, reverting back to old practices, bypassing the rest of the board and the DAC and then refuse to hold meetings of the DAC at (a) time when it is most required.
"With regards to the absurd allegation made by Yazdi about the dumping of 300 trucks of matti on the Doongerwadi I would like to tell Yazdi to kindly do his homework first. The matti Yazdi keeps harping about is red garden mud used specifically for greenery and gardening purposes. The mud was given to us free of cost for which the BPP should be thankful. Further, this practice of depositing red mud in the Doongerwadi was a practice commenced by Maneck Engineer who rightfully allowed red mud, fit for gardening, to be laid at the Doongerwadi. Before the placing of this red mud the staff check, test and see if it is fit for gardening and only then is it placed. This practice has been in operation for over 10 years and is nothing new. Red mud was being deposited at the Doongerwadi even when Khojeste Mistree was in charge of the Doongerwadi, and for which the BPP had spent thousands of rupees to buy the same. I presume then it would now be safe to also assume, as per Yazdi’s logic, that Khojeste too was favoring some builder friend of his somewhere in the city. All of this is only another feeble attempt to rake up new issues and level absurd accusations that builders are saving over Rs 20 lakhs by dumping such soil on the Doongerwadi property and that I am hand in glove with them when till this day I am not even aware who these contractors are as they are directly dealt with by Dr Dhalla and our BPP Doongerwadi staff. I openly challenge Yazdi to come in front of the DAC on April 11 and justify the accusations made by him, failing which, it would be just and fair to term him as an empty vessel whose bark is bigger than his bite…
"I urge all members of the DAC and the BPP trustees not to fall for this fake dramatization of this issue and fall prey to this unfortunate enmity between the trustees and simply come to discuss the issues plaguing Doongerwadi with an open mind.”

A ‘special’ agenda
In an earlier attempt five months ago to clip Mehta’s wings, Desai had proposed a "special agenda request” for the BPP meeting that was to be held on November 20, 2013. The items included:
"To consider passing and approving a resolution regarding the requirement of minimum signatures of five trustees on any and all cheques from any and all bank accounts related to the BPP or any and all other trusts where the trustees of the BPP are also trustees of that trust and any other account connected to the BPP in any manner whatsoever. (Currently trustees Desai and Muncherji Cama sign cheques. Where disputes occur, payments are withheld, including salaries, lawyers’ fees, etc — editors)
"To consider passing and approving a resolution withdrawing any and all powers given to any staff/administration members to sign cheques or deal in any other manner on behalf of the trustees of the BPP.
"To consider passing and approving a resolution to stop with immediate effect the publication of The BPP Review and/or any work related to its publication or any other publication on behalf of the BPP. [Accordingly the monthly (The BPP Review) stopped publication before the 10th World Zoroastrian Congress (10WZC) — editors]
"To consider passing and approving a resolution to take any and all legal and necessary steps to ensure a speedy and thorough investigation into the charges levelled by four Trustees against Mehta. [Complaint filed with Economic Offences Wing (EOW) and magistrate. The EOW gave Mehta a clean chit. The magistrate’s report is awaited — editors]
"In addition to the above, all the carried forward items of board meeting of Tuesday, November 19, 2013 will be taken up. [Eighty-one items were listed of which around 63 deal with property matters. Other items dealt with the 10WZC and one with "the matter of a letter dated October 29, 2013 received from the harassed housewives of Merwanji Cama Park, Andheri (West), in respect of religious heritage institute (M. F. Cama Athornan Institute) turned into junior college of science, hav(ing) made the residents’ (lives) miserable — editors]