The Mehta machinations

Just when it appeared that the week-long deadlock was broken with all the five present trustees of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) agreeing to resign and seeking fresh elections for all seven seats on March 27, 2022, BPP trustee Viraf Mehta refused to sign the consent terms papers for submission to the Bombay High Court (BHC). All the other trustees had signed. When sent a WhatsApp text on October 27, 2021 inquiring why he was not signing, he did not respond. In the Parsi Junction (PJ) of October 3, however, he stated, "I intend to honor what I signed on October 20, 2021” but he did not state when he would do that.
He had on October 20 signed the agreement on the BPP letterhead along with the other four, chairwoman Armaity Tirandaz and trustees Noshir Dadrawala, Kersi Randeria and Xerxes Dastur. Mehta, along with his father Dinshaw, former BPP chairman, wanted to postpone the thrice delayed elections to October 2022 but faced with stiff opposition from the two minority trustees, Dadrawala and Randeria who went on an indefinite hunger strike, had a rethink. Aside from the holding of elections in March 2022 the trustees had also agreed to shorten the term of office from seven to five years with a 10-year limit of service.
The drama and standoff followed two meetings with community activists and potential candidates on October 5 and 12 (see "A tale of two meetings,” Parsiana, October 21-November 6, 2021). At the October 12 meet, Dadrawala tendered his resignation in protest against the two-to-two vote with Tirandaz exercising her casting vote to delay holding elections for a year. Dastur was absent on account of ill health.

Community activists at the Punchayet office

But when four days later Dadrawala said he was going on a hunger strike at the BPP office starting October 18, matters took on urgency. The next day Randeria also joined in the fast as did reportedly several supporters of the duo including Anahita Desai, Hoshang Jal, Karyesh Patel, Arzan Ghadially, Shahrukh Bilimoria, Kaikhushroo Irani and Monaz Randelia. Surprisingly Viraf, who along with Tirandaz had also had voted for the postponement, said he also fasted in empathy.
An online petition for elections to be held as per the election scheme was started which garnered signatures from more than 4,000 Parsis. Over 350 community members came personally to the BPP office and signed a register placed in the BPP foyer expressing solidarity with Dadrawala and his cause. Consultations, meetings and mediation began simultaneously. Court papers opposing the delay and disregard for the election scheme were kept ready for filing by Dadrawala and Randeria. The landlord, Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy Parsee Benevolent Institution, sent a letter to the BPP stating "the dharna (sit-in) must be within the BPP premises and not in the common areas.” At night, Dadrawala and Randeria slept on bedding laid out on the floor of the BPP boardroom.
In their order in March this year, Justices Sharukh Kathawalla and Vinay Joshi of the BHC had stated "both the parties undertake to hold the elections on May 23, 2021 and further undertake the same will not be cancelled on any ground whatsoever including on the ground of the prevailing pandemic, except a lockdown being declared by the State Government.” A lockdown was announced and the May date deferred to October 2021. But once again the majority trustees connived to further delay that date by one year to October 2022! The reasoning: they needed time to amend the election scheme to reduce the term of the trustees from seven to five years; no other reforms were to be introduced. The majority trustees also said holding elections for the five trustees together would help the bankrupt trust conserve money. The BPP has an outstanding of Rs11.4 crores, say the trustees. Despite the huge deficit, in a show of largesse and to curry favor with the electorate the three majority trustees had last year waived the Rs 750 monthly service charge levied on BPP flat occupants.
With public pressure mounting on the majority trustees, on October 20, 2021 a settlement was reached to hold the elections on March 27, 2022. All the trustees were to resign but could seek re-election. The intractable Dinshaw, who commands loyalty from the three majority trustees, capitulated only because Dastur threatened to break ranks and resign if the impasse was not broken. When Parsiana asked him why he threatened to do so, he replied on WhatsApp, "Because I wanted the scheme of elections changed and also (to) hold elections.” Had Dadrawala and Randeria also stepped down, the BPP would have been left with only two trustees, Tirandaz and Viraf, unable to constitute the requisite quorum of three. Elections would then have had to be held immediately. That daunting possibility and the mediation of jurist and community activist Berjis Desai closed the deal. But the jubilation was short-lived. When the court papers were prepared, initially both Tirandaz and Viraf refused to sign. Dadrawala and Randeria then filed a petition in the BHC requesting the Court to "direct” the trustees "to act in consonance with the consent terms” or to "propose a new program for elections.”
Desai held a nearly four-hour meeting with all the trustees on October 26 and then met Tirandaz the next day to clear her legal doubts. After that, she signed. Viraf remained the only one to hold out. In the PJ online weekly that mouths the Mehta camp line, Viraf stated he had agreed to sign the consent terms, "but repeatedly told Noshir that this was being signed by me under duress and blackmail. I do not agree with the consent terms as finalized but would sign them to get my colleague to eat and take care of his health.” But in the press release issued on October 20 it was clearly stated, "the trustees have unanimously arrived at an amicable solution.” Viraf had even circulated a copy of this press release through WhatsApp. Barring a settlement in the next two weeks while the courts are on vacation, he’ll have to explain to the Justices why he has had a change of heart.