BPP Trustee and one of our Community’s respected leaders, Noshir Dadrawala, announced his resignation as a BPP Trustee, following a heated discussion that took place in the Board meeting on 24^th April, 2018. This can be traced back to Sunday, 22^nd April, 2018, at Bandra’s Lok Adalat Court, where three cases between the BPP and occupants of the Bhabha Sanatorium were to be heard with a view to settle them.

Things escalated due to the deplorable behaviour of Ex-BPP Chairman, Dinshaw Mehta who attended the hearing at the Lok Adalat, though he is not an official party to the case. Alleging that he was the “only Trustee of Bhabha Sanatrorium” and the present BPP Trustees were “fake”, Dinshaw Mehta started humiliating a beneficiary with his vile and disgraceful comments in open court, launching a vicious attack on him, making extremely objectionable, insensitive and politically incorrect statements meant to publicly humiliate and insult the concerned individual. This was in keeping with his usual diversionary tactics, more so, as the case was about settling the legal dispute between the residents of Bhabha Sanatorium and the BPP Trustees.

Dinhsaw’s inexcusable behaviour was an item on the agenda which the Board intended to discuss on Tuesday, the 22^nd of April. However, Dinshaw’s son and BPP Trustee, Viraf Mehta facilitated his father’s unwarranted presence again, insisting he should be able to explain his point of view. Instead of discussing the legal issue between beneficiaries and the Trust, or Dinshaw’s obnoxious behaviour at the Lok Adalat, both father and son, under the guise of clarifying and explaining their behaviour, continued the verbal assault on the beneficiary and his spouse, who were not present in the Boardroom at that time, once again subjecting the other Trustees to the despicable onslaught comprising highly derogative and vindictive comments. The issue that was being discussed was of a very personal and delicate nature, and in today’s progressive day and age, needed to be dealt with sensitivity and in a politically appropriate manner.

Noshir Dadrawala, in the spirit of fairness, wanted to give both sides an equal opportunity to have their say, and thus unwittingly allowed Dinshaw and Viraf to continue demeaning the couple. Thereafter when the couple and two witnesses were called in, the issue got more heated when certain allegations made by Dinshaw and Viraf Mehta were informed to the couple.

Dinshaw and Viraf’s incessant verbal attack greatly pained and irked some of the Trustees to see defenceless community members being put down so viciously. Finally, BPP Chairman Yazdi Desai announced that he did not wish this issue to get further blown out of proportion and adjourned the board meeting. This act was unfortunately taken as an affront by Dadrawala, who was aiming to get closure on the issue, and both – Desai and Dadrawala walked out of the meeting.

Dadrawala, whose intention was simply to ensure that all the facts were placed before the trustees, and appear to be fair to all sides, unfortunately felt insulted when Desai abruptly adjourned the meeting. Soon thereafter, a hurt and upset Dadrawala sent out an email expressing his desire to resign as a BPP Trustee.

However, since the letter was not formally and technically correct, Chairman Desai requested him to formally address the letter of resignation to the Chairman, as is the required legality, so that he could put it forward to the Board to consider – as only then would it be a technically correct resignation. But Dadrawala refused to do so, stating that even in the past – his own earlier resignation given in 2011 was also addressed to the Trustees and was accepted without an issue. But given the fact, that a third party, Dinshaw Mehta, had raised an objection in the Charity Commissioner’s office about the technically incorrect resignation submitted by Muncherji Cama a few years earlier, Chairman Desai expressed his concern stating even if Dadrawala did not intend to challenge his own resignation, somebody else could, and could once again put the Trust through an expensive litigation and cause confusion about the vacant seat.

Though Dadrawala has categorically stated that he does not wish to put the Trust through an additional expense for another election, and is hoping this election will be held simultaneously with Cama’s election (coming up in July 2018), it may now be difficult, given the timeframe and the desire of the present Trustees to stay strictly within the boundaries of the High Court approved Scheme of Election. Hence, if Dadrawala’s resignation is accepted, a second election will have to be held to fill up this vacancy.

It must also be noted that Dadrawala’s tendering of his resignation is not the final step. It is only after the Chairman calls the Board meeting and the resignation is accepted, will it become conclusive.

Given the mood of the community, and in keeping Dadrawala’s valuable contributions to the Board and his expertise in Charity matters lauded by his fellow Trustees, it is almost certain that some, if not all, of the Trustees, may genuinely request Dadrawala to reconsider his decision and convince him to continue doing the good work on the Board for the Community, in a renewed positive and capable manner, as he has been doing in the past.