A house for Dr Master

"I just wanted to express my appreciation for the prompt decision taken by all of you to allot a flat (No. D-4) in Cusrow Baug to Dr Farokh Master, the most deserving Parsi, on the recommendation of Fali Nariman and myself. His great service to the community as also to the underprivileged and less fortunate beings in our world is outstanding. It manifests itself to treating most of his very unfortunate patients without remuneration as also teaching the less privileged who cannot afford to complete their MD (Doctor of Medicine) courses.” So wrote Wadia family scion Nusli Wadia to the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) board of trustees on March 24, 2016 following the unanimous allotment of a flat by the six sitting trustees. His letter was quoted by BPP trustee Noshir Dadrawala in the Parsi Times (PT) of July 9, 2016 defending the allocation that turned into a major controversy.
A flurry of WhatsApp messages had been doing the rounds since late June 2016 both criticizing and defending the action of the trustees. The imbroglio spilled into the general media with two articles being published in The Times of India (TOI) of June 28 ("Parsi Punchayet courts controversy over flat given to wealthy homeopath”) and July 5 ("Parsi outrage over allotment of SoBo flat to wealthy doctor”).

From left: Dr Farokh Master, Nusli Wadia and Fali Nariman

Dadrawala noted that the Wadia family has given "the Parsi community five baugs with about 1,500 flats. Wadia said ‘In 54 years I have recommended only five cases.’ Matter closed. It is not an issue whether Master is rich or poor. The great-grandson of late Jerbai Wadia made a recommendation and all the trustees had the grace to say yes... that’s all. Let the community show equal grace and respect to the donor’s family.”
Dadrawala drew attention to the fact that earlier boards have, at their absolute discretion, allotted flats to others, including Dasturs (Dr) Firoze Kotwal and Khurshed Dastoor. The flat has been given to Master on leave and licence and not as a tenancy or on ownership. Referring to a detractor’s mention of Armaity Tirandaz as being the only trustee many in the community trust, he reproduced her email of March 24, 2016 addressed to Wadia: "Dear Mr Nusli Wadia, Rustom (her late husband) was a close friend of Dr Farokh Master, and he was instrumental in getting Farokh a post in KEM Hospital for alternative medicine many years ago, and as far as I am aware very respected and successful and I pray that it continues as long as possible. Warm regards, Armaity.”
Contending that no trustee had personally benefitted from this allotment, Dadrawala has challenged the seeming concern of "loss to charity” of a "flat worth three crores. Incidentally, who has determined the value of this flat and based on what formula? In any case, where were all these activists when the previous regime under the chairmanship of (Dinshaw) Mehta blew up three crores to ban the ‘renegade priests’? Was that not loss of charity?... Apparently some losers cannot accept the fact that this new board has collectively achieved far more and quicker results.” Amongst these he states are: vacating the Charity Commissioner’s stay order on alienating property within two months; allotting 65 houses as versus the previous board allotting 75 in seven years; settling 20 out of the 220 pending litigations; approving projects at Bharucha Baug and Nirlon; working to amicably settle a 30-year dispute between the BPP and Aderbad society; and regularizing the financial audit and filing of returns which had been neglected for the last two years.
BPP trustee Zarir Bhathena, noting that the flat was allotted in March 2016, stated in PT, July 9, "I recollect even when Godrej Baug was constructed by the donor, 50% flats were allotted by BPP and the remaining, by the respective donors.”
The detractors responded to Dadrawala’s admission that the fiscal deficit for last year is about Rs 3.5 crore by saying that it can be "easily compensated by a security deposit or a donation of six crore rupees (from Master) leaving a surplus of Rs 2.5 crore which can be utilized for the betterment of baugs/colonies. He (Master) should come forward and voluntarily donate the money for early redressal of the controversy.” They allege Master has three other flats.
In the Jam-e-Jamshed (JJ) of July 3 former BPP chairman Dinshaw Mehta stated in an advertisement: "After the community outcry towards the out-of-turn allotment to Dr Master, he has made the most ludicrous statement that the BPP has a certain quota of flats for people who have contributed to the community.
"This is absolute rubbish! In my 21 years as trustee I am not aware of any such quota. Furthermore, I am personally not aware of any worthwhile contribution of Dr Master to our community...
"There are fixed norms for allotment and all of them have been violated in this allotment.”
A message from community activist Dr Viraf Kapadia alleged, "Keys were handed over to (Master) before signing of any documents. No formal announcements or advertisements were given in the Parsi Press. To overcome legal hurdles, BPP trustees used the Wadia Committee to hand over the flat. But under the original Bombay High Court order, the powers of the Wadia Committee were taken away more than 50 years ago, and the BPP made the exclusive trustees of all Wadia baugs... Property worth six crores (was) given away to a person for free who has declared his income tax returns as Rs 30 lakhs a year.”
In its issue of July 3, the JJ published the views of several dissenters. Journalist Nauzer Bharucha, who writes on real estate and housing matters, felt "this appears to be a clear case of nepotism... We are waiting for Dr Master to be largehearted and reject this allotment instead of sullying his good image and causing embarrassment to the BPP.” Chartered accountant Xerxes Dastur opined: "There are so many stalwarts in our great community; hope we don’t have a line of stalwart applications now!” One Shirin Rana’s concern was that "the allotment to Dr Master brings a loss to the BPP, which translates as a loss to the community so it becomes the duty of the community to try to control the damage to the BPP.”
BPP trustee Viraf Mehta claimed that he was "made to believe that Dr Master was a poor and needy fellow beneficiary. I had constantly requested to see the file of Dr Master, however his file was not shown to me until end April 2016, by which time the administration had without publishing his name in an advertisement in the newspaper or without signing a LL (leave and licence) agreement handed over the keys to him.”
Refuting the allegations, Master informed TOI, "There is a war under way between the past trustees of the BPP and the present committee... The BPP has a certain quota of flats for people who have contributed to the community. Sometimes the flats are auctioned, sometimes exceptions are made. It is left to the discretion of the trustees. There are no fixed laws.”
Writing in the PT of July 9 BPP trustee Kersi Randeria noted that the Master issue was raised concurrently as an investigation report into the allotment of the two-room flat in Godrej Baug to Kapadia was being studied. Randeria alleged: "In a letter to the board in 2001, (the then BPP trustee) Dinshaw Mehta claimed that Kapadia sold his flat for Rs 15 lakhs, of which he gave five lakhs to the BPP (a figure which even the then chief executive officer Behram Dastur questioned as being ridiculously low), five lakhs allegedly to his old ‘landlord’ and kept five lakhs for himself. These facts are not on the record of the trust. All that the records show is that he is ‘rewarded’ for help in the Bhikha Behram Well issue and a one room kitchen flat is allotted to his family. The day on which Kapadia was handed the keys, and even before he moved into the flat, he demanded a larger flat, and voila! A two-room flat was allotted to him in the ‘donor’s quota’! Why? Because he and his brother were likely to get married!”
BPP trustee Kersi Randeria informed TOI that all allotments made by the current board are free of cost. "At least we are not selling the flats like the previous committee did or accepting bribes. They had subsidized rich Parsis by selling flats worth Rs 15-20 crores for five crores. We have done nothing illegal or unethical. We helped a deserving doctor who lived in a small house. If we make a mistake we are willing to say sorry. If we find out that Dr Master is a wealthy man we may ask him to make a donation to the trust or set up a free clinic for poor Parsis.”