Federation elections

Following an acrimonious meet in Bardoli on August 31, 2014 the West Zone B anjumans are set to elect Valsad Parsi Anjuman managing trustee Sam Chothia as the next vice president of the zone at the Federation of the Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India (FPZAI) annual general meeting (AGM) to be held on September 13, 2014.
Ahmedabad Parsi Panchayat president Brig (Retd) Jahangir Anklesaria who offered his candidature for this office withdrew as he did not wish to pursue the office due to the heated discussion the contentious subject was causing.
Chothia was supported by anjumans loyal to the World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis (WAPIZ) whose founder trustee Areez Khambatta did not seek reelection to the FPZAI vice president post.

Brig Jahangir Anklesaria (left) and Sam Chothia

The meet also resolved that all West Zone B defunct anjuman matters were to be taken away from Surat’s Sorab Katpitia who looks after the defunct anjuman property matters. Katpitia has been consistently targetted by the WAPIZ camp.
Elections will also be held for four other vice presidents from West Zone A, East, South and North zones. Also to be co-opted are anjuman representatives from each zone to the Executive Council (EC). Further, two honorary secretaries, two honorary treasurers and one executive secretary are to be appointed, notes the FPZAI agenda notices dated August 7, 2014 signed by the FPZAI honorary secretary Khojeste Mistree. The EC is the decision making body. The AGM ratifies the decisions.
The notices state the EC meeting is to be held at the Banaji Atash Behram complex on September 13 and 14 and the AGM on September 13, 2014. A jashan will be held in the Atash Behram Hall on September 13 at 9 a.m. The normal practice is to hold the EC meeting on the first day and the AGM on the next though sometimes the EC meeting resumes after the AGM. Whether the change is intentional or accidental is not known. At the EC meeting only EC members can participate, unless the chair rules otherwise. At the AGM all anjuman representatives can take part in the proceedings.
A note attached to the agenda notices specifies the formalities to be followed by each anjuman/punchayet in authorizing a particular person to represent the association. In the past, however, several representatives attended the meetings without proper authorization.
Though the FPZAI is supposed to meet every six months this meeting is being held after 20 months, due to the internal wrangling of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP).
For as long as BPP chairman Dinshaw Mehta, and BPP as well as WAPIZ founder trustees Mistree and Yazdi Desai were united, WAPIZ ensured that most of the vacancies were filled by people bearing allegiance to them. The September meet will give a sound indication of how much clout WAPIZ still wields.
Proposed amendments to the FPZAI rules and regulations pending with the BPP over six months have still not been circulated. A committee had been formed to study changes to ensure genuine representation at the meets. In the past WAPIZ candidates from Bombay or elsewhere represented anjumans with which they had no connection whatsoever. WAPIZ thereby was able to out-vote the genuine representatives at the meetings.