Pavri’s petition

"Pavri’s case was rejected under the MAS (Mobed Amelioration Scheme) by the MAS Committee and he had already been informed verbally of the rejection when he had made (the) inquiry,” was the response of Cawas Panthaki, senior executive of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) on January 9, 2015 to Parsiana’s letter of January 5, 2015 enquiring why Ervad Marzban Rohinton Pavri of Bombay had been denied a stipend under the MAS, since it is meant to be given to full time priests. No reason was cited for the refusal. When asked by Parsiana over the telephone what reason the BPP had given, Pavri averred that no reason was conveyed to him either orally or in writing. He said that when his name did not feature on the first list, he had been told that it would be included in the second list, but that did not happen. Incidentally, payments under the MAS are on hold as the BPP is facing a money crunch.

Ervad Marzban Pavri: ignored?

A notice regarding his application was also published in Parsi Times on March 1, 2014.
On January 1, 2015 Pavri had sent Parsiana a copy of a letter dated January 28, 2014, which he had addressed to the BPP trustees, regarding the fate of his application to receive a stipend under the MAS. He had submitted the application in October 2012 and in the letter he stated that since he had not received any reply from the BPP he was once again submitting his application as he is a full time mobed, having qualified as a navar/martab from Navsari in 1987 following which he was performing boi and mobedi on daily wages at Malesar Behdin Anjuman Agiary and Sir J. J. Adarian at Navsari.
Pavri wrote that he joined the H. D. Saher Agiary in Bombay in 1990 where he served for 19 years, rising from boiwalla to panthaky. To improve his prospects, he moved to the Wadiaji Atash Behram in 2009 and also worked at Doongerwadi under Ervad Shahrukh Mirza. At present he is serving as a boiwala at the Thana Agiary since June 19, 2013 on a consolidated salary.
During a visit to the Parsiana office, Pavri revealed that proper scrutiny has not been done by the MAS Committee as there are several cases where priests have been selected though they are doing other jobs or are receiving pensions from former employers. Also, regarding the young navars at the Dadar Athornan Institute who are being given the benefit, there is no guarantee that they will practice full-time mobedi in the future. Pavri says he earns Rs 18,000 per month at present, the bulk of which is spent on medical treatment for his father, a retired chauffeur who has diabetes and orthopedic problems. Pavri deems he is deserving of the monetary relief as he is in need of funds. At present he has to depend on help from relatives in order to survive. Many other priests are unwilling to take up the priesthood full time because of poor financial returns, Pavri opines.