Leave & License Conversion: Beware Of False Promises And Selfish Preferences!

Elections are coming up shortly and most candidates, barring one, have announced in their manifesto – with the aim of garnering votes – about finding solutions to convert Leave & License (L&L) into tenancy. Some have claimed outright they will convert all L&L to tenancy, without explaining how this will be achieved. Are these candidates ready to give a signed affidavit that they would fulfil, if not all, then even just 70%, of their manifesto claims?

In the past, candidates have fooled the community repeatedly with fake promises. This time, for once, let’s vote for performance-based candidates, not manifesto-based. This is not an election for a CEO post where one person is the deciding authority once appointed. The BPP board consists of 7 Trustees, so no one person can bring about any change. The manifesto has to be accepted by all 6 Trustees to be implemented.

Coming back to the subject of converting L&L into tenancy – let me explain in simple terms how we are being fooled again and again by candidates promising tenancy rights.

* The primary responsibility of the BPP Trustees is to safeguard the properties of the Trust. It is not the Trustee’s father’s property that he can do as he pleases. A Trustee is bound by law to be prudent and deal with the Trust properties, as if they were his own, and converting Leave and Licence to Tenancy is like a Trustee distributing the property to its beneficiaries. If a Trustee gets elected and starts converting all L&L to tenancy, what will happen? The Trust will have no further flats to allot as there are no vacant flats available to give, as all will have tenancy rights and will simply NEVER return the flats.

* Trustees are not owners of the property belonging to the Trust. Legally it is not in their powers to bring about the change of converting L&L to tenancy. No Trustee of any Trust have ever succeeded in doing so or ever will. It’s common sense – if you, ‘the reader’, happen to be a landlord and rent out your flat to a person, would you make a L&L or a rental agreement? So, don’t fall for manifestos and misguiding and ill-conceived ideas made without the application of mind. One sitting Trustee visited colonies and promised to convert L&L to tenancy, but once he won the elections, he is completely silent whenever asked about the promises he gave the voters!

* Some community members have 3 to 4 flats in Parsee colonies and are covered under the Tenancy Act, leaving the BPP or any Trust helpless to do anything about it legally or otherwise. However, in L&L, such people can be evicted by not granting their L&L renewal and will not be allowed to misuse or abuse Trust properties meant for truly deserving Parsis. For eg., a Parsee lady, after marriage gets a flat allotted to her name. Later, she divorces the Parsee husband and marries a non-Parsee. If such a person would have been under a Tenancy Act, she would never get evicted and the non-Parsee husband can stake a claim to a house in a Parsee colony! This is actually happening in colonies today and it is only because of L&L Agreement, that there is some scope of the recovery of such flats. The number of non-Parsees residing in our colonies is increasing and I see no wrong, as a person is entitled to choose his or her life partner. But that is not the issue here. The issue is that people misuse the privilege. In my own building, there is a flat that’s been locked up since 6 years. Not once has the person stayed even for 24 hours in the flat as he already has another accommodation and resides there. I find it strange that the BPP Board is silent on this case. STOP THIS HOARDING!! Another case – a family having three houses in a Parsi colony and one in a cosmopolitan society, applied for yet another flat for his mother-in-law. The flat was AGAIN allotted, based on wrong declaration. I intervened and brought it to the notice of the Board and the allotment was cancelled. I have nothing personal against the person but my question remains, why is he HOARDING flats he already has a roof which is valued at Rs.9 crores!???

In simple words, some people hoard flats and don’t surrender when need arises. People relating to this article need to look around in their own colony and see for themselves how many flats are locked up. Remember, for each flat locked up you are depriving a poor couple the right to accommodation in a safe environment. Do we want our colonies to become a cosmopolitan society? We are beneficiaries of various Trusts and it is our responsibility to safeguard these Trust properties from being taken over. Having said that I must in all fairness state that the leave and license agreements should not be used to harass any resident by any Trustee. At all times they remain a caretaker/ manager and have powers for a limited period.

Arzan J Ghadially

 

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Anahita’s Win Should Be A Given!

The next BPP Trusteeship elections will affect our lives both individually and collectively for the next few years. Each and every vote is important because it will make all the difference between right and wrong, truth and hype, happiness and unhappiness, so block your date to vote on 1st of July. It’s your right, pride and privilege to vote. In my opinion, Anahita Desai is a candidate of proven dedication having extended help to numerous causes and the fact that her husband Yazdi is the BPP Chairman works FOR her and NOT AGAINST her since she’ll strengthen her husband’s hands and bring tremendous synergy to the board. Any other candidate may disagree with Yazdi and be a spoke-in-the-wheel in passing good decisions.

There will always be candidates who will claim to do a lot of things but those are future promises. In Anahita, we have a candidate who has proven herself in 101 ways in the past. In my opinion, she hardly has any serious competition since she is miles ahead of others. It is almost a given that she will win, as she absolutely should!

Ruby Lilaowala (Cusrow Baug) 

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Re: Attack On Minorities – Wake Up Call!

 

As an old timer who had seen better ‘Law and Order’ during the British Rule, I am sorely disappointed that not a single Parsi – leave alone a BPP Trustee – has come forward in support of Mr. Julio Rebeiro, our former Poice Commissioner when he recently condemned the frequent attacks on Christians and other minorities (TOI).

Let us not forget that it was the same Mr. Rebeiro who had supported us when a few years ago, some hooligans belonging to the majority community, had attacked and destroyed our century-old glass panes at our ‘Bhikha Behram Well.’

Fascism should be condemned by one and all irrespective of caste or creed. I faintly recall the following lines I had read somewhere on fascism during the World War II…

“When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

Then they came for me,
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.”

 

Adal Subedar (Vipin Villa, Matunga E)