– Anahita Desai, Hoshang Jal & Adil Malia

A Decision That Will Affect Generations – Please Read Before You Decide

Dear Fellow Humdeens,

Over the past two weeks, many of you may have read BPP Chairman Viraf Mehta’s proposal to convert Leave & Licences to Tenancies in Dinshaw Mehta’s Parsi Junction.

This proposal will permanently change the Bombay Parsi Punchayet’s housing policy – a policy that has protected our community for more than fifty years.

Before you decide where you stand, we believe you deserve to hear the other side as well. That is the only purpose of this letter. Let us begin with three simple questions…

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1. WHAT IS THE PROBLEM THAT THIS DRASTIC POLICY CHANGE IS TRYING TO SOLVE?

According to BPP Trustees – Viraf Mehta, Armaity Tirandaz and Maharukh Noble (Xerxes Dastur is absolutely silent on this issue of conversion to Tenancy), this policy change is to protect the L&L licensees from being wrongfully evicted by unscrupulous Trustees.

And how many such licensees have been wrongfully evicted till date by BPP Trustees?

NONE!

Chairman Viraf Mehta himself has publicly stated that, in the history of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet, no licensee has ever been unfairly evicted!

Is it then right for Viraf Mehta, Armaity Tirandaz and Maharukh Noble to create unnecessary fear where there has been no record of injustice?

FOR WHAT REASON do they want to replace a system that has worked for decades with one that cannot easily be reversed?

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2. WHY DID TRUSTEES VIRAF, ARMAITY AND MAHARUKH SLEEP ON THIS PROPOSAL FOR 4 YEARS, ONLY TO WAKE UP ONE YEAR BEFORE ELECTIONS?

Our BPP Board was elected on 30^th May, 2022. During the election campaign, the Kom-Ni-Unity Group, consisting of Viraf Mehta, Armaity Tirandaz, Maharukh Noble and Xerxes Dastur promised to convert, promised to convert L&Ls to Tenancies. That was 4 years ago. Four of them won and they have always enjoyed a majority on the Board from 2022.

THEY DID NOT BRING UP THE PROPOSAL FOR DISCUSSION FROM 1^ST JUNE, 2022 TILL 5^TH DECEMBER, 2023. IN THAT ONE MEETING ON 5^TH DECEMBER, 2023, WE (HOSHANG JAL, ADIL MALIA & ANAHITA DESAI) PRESENTED 34 CONCERNS, WHICH THEY SAID THEY WOULD ADDRESS AND CLARIFY IN 2 WEEKS. BUT THERE WAS COMPLETE SILENCE TILL MAY 2026. 

SUDDENLY THEY BRING THIS UP IN MAY 2026. THEY PASS A RESOLUTION WITH THE CHAIRMAN’S CASTING VOTE. ALL OUR APPEALS TO DISCUSS ALL OUR CONCERNS ARE ARROGANTLY SWEPT ASIDE. WHY? HAS IT SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE FACT THAT ELECTIONS ARE ONLY ONE YEAR AWAY?

We leave it for our intelligent community members to decide.

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3. WILL OUR BAUGS ALWAYS REMAIN EXCLUSIVELY PARSI?

What will be the effect of this conversion of L&L to Tenancy on the vitally important Parsi Only Covenant?

In Dinshaw Mehta’s Parsi Junction, Viraf Mehta has assured that they will. Sadly, that is just an empty assurance, without any factual basis. It is misleading the community.

Time and again the BPP has been losing cases Time and again…. wherein the courts did not uphold the Parsi-only condition in tenancy matters. Everyone is aware of this and therefore the BPP has stopped filing cases against tenants on the basis of Non-Parsis occupying premises, as it is a losing battle.

What happens if a tenancy later passes to someone who is not Parsi?

Even the Chairman has honestly acknowledged that this question has not yet been settled by the courts.

We have therefore sought advice from retired judges, senior solicitors and experienced rent-law experts. Their advice has been consistent: before making such a permanent change, extreme caution is necessary.

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NO AMOUNT OF CLAUSES INCORPORATED INTO A TENANCY AGREEMENT WILL BE ENFORCABLE IF IT IS AGAINST THE MAHARASHTRA RENT CONTROL ACT

A Simple Question Everyone Can Answer

As Trustees, these properties do not belong to us personally. They belong to the entire Parsi community. We are merely their custodians, with a duty to protect them for today’s beneficiaries and for future generations.

So let us ask a very simple question:

Suppose one of these flats belonged to you personally.

Would you voluntarily give your licensee a permanent right which could pass even on to future generations? And would you do so without receiving a single rupee in return?

Would any sensible owner of 4,500 homes willingly convert nearly 1,900 of them into lifelong protected tenancies free of cost?

If you would not do that with your own property, should the Trust do it with property that belongs to all of us?

We believe that question deserves careful thought before any decision is taken.

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Which BPP Leave & Licensees are NOT being offered the option of conversion from L&L to Tenancy, under this Proposal?

• All licensees in the 5 Wadia Baugs – Cusrow Baug, Rustom Baug, Ness Baug, Jer Baug and Nowroze Baug

• All licensees who have paid a Security Deposit for their flats.

Yes! Take it from us that what you have been told by BPP Chairman Viraf, that first only those Licensees who have been allotted free flats will be offered Tenancy, and then the rest of you will be given the choice, is empty assurances.

Please think, for 4 years no opinion from tax experts or financial gurus has been taken on how to convert the Security Deposits. If they really wanted to do this, why have they done nothing about this for 4 years since they have been elected?

• All those who cannot afford to pay the Stamp Duty for Tenancy, which ranges from approximately Rs. 3 lakhs to over Rs. 30 lakhs (depending on the area where your flat is situated and the size of flat, etc)

• All those licensees in BPP Ownership Bldgs, donor flats, Wadia Kanga Bldg., etc

• All those Licensees who have a child married to a Non-Parsi or a sibling married to a Non-Parsi or one parent or in-law being a Non-Parsi.

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DID YOU ALL KNOW THIS?

SO THOSE WHO CANNOT AFFORD STAMP DUTY ARE KEPT OUT! THAT MEANS – THE VERY PEOPLE THE TRUST WAS CREATED TO PROTECT, ARE LEFT OUT!!

THE SAME PERSONS WHO FINANCED THE BPP THROUGH HEFTY SECURITY DEPOSITS ARE BEING KEPT OUT!!! IS THIS FAIR?

WHY HAVE Trustees VIRAF, ARMAITY AND MAHARUKH NOT SAID ALL THIS IN THE PARSI JUNCTION?

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ONE VOICE IS STILL MISSING…

Of us seven Trustees, the Trustee best qualified to weigh the tax questions and the financial implications is our only Chartered Accountant – Mr. Xerxes Dastur. Unfortunately, he has avoided taking part in our discussions on this matter.

We wrote to him for his professional views, but he has again avoided answering our queries. He says he is unwell and we truly wish him a speedy recovery. But with his voice absent, those of us actively deciding are split evenly, three and three, and this policy decision has moved forward only on the Chairman’s casting vote!

A decision so finely balanced, on something so crucial, surely deserves to wait until every question is answered and every voice is heard.

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WILL THE TRUST LOSE CONTROL OVER ITS OWN PROPERTIES?

This is perhaps the most important question of all! Under a leave-and-licence arrangement, the Trust can recover possession of a flat when circumstances genuinely require it.

A protected tenancy is very different. Once tenancy rights are granted, recovering possession becomes far more difficult and, in many situations, may no longer be possible.

This is not merely our personal opinion. The Trust’s own Internal Auditor has repeatedly warned the Board – in writing – that converting licences into tenancies could seriously weaken the Trust’s control over its own assets.

When our own auditor repeatedly raises such concerns, can responsible Trustees simply ignore those warnings?

We do not believe they should.

Most of you are aware that there are so many flats locked and not used. We are asked why is the BPP not taking them back to be allotted to deserving community Members? Most times the answer is that these are Tenancy Flats which the BPP has filed cases on for non-usage and bonafide requirement of the Trust. Most of these case are ongoing for 20 -30 years with no end in sight!

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THE WISDOM AND FORESIGHT OF EARLIER BPP TRUSTEES

All housing allotments for the past over 4 decades have been done on Leave & Licence basis.

Why did the Trustees allot flats on Leave & Licence only? BECAUSE IT WAS THE ONLY WAY TO PROTECT THE PARSI ONLY COVENANT. IN TENANCY IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO SAFEGUARD THE PARSI ONLY COVENANT. 

In Jer Baug there is an entire Maharashtrian family staying, in Cusrow Baug there is a Christian family residing, in Ness Baug there is a Muslim family and in Khareghat Colony there is a Maharashtrian family – all of them without having a single Parsi residing in the flat! Some are servants / maids and some are married to tenants who have expired. There are cases filed against all of them but the cases are going on for more than 20 years!! All of them continue to reside in our colonies while the cases are ongoing. It may take another 10 years to evict them.

And the Chairman and BPP Trustees Armaity and Maharukh want to create more such problems! Unfortunately, no foresight! There are many such cases but the Trust has since many years stopped filing cases as we have been losing such cases in court.

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RELYING ON OPINIONS

BPP Chairman Viraf Mehta says that they have taken legal Opinions and on the basis of these opinions they are going ahead with this policy change.

Apparently, he has not even read the Opinion of our own BPP Internal Auditor nor has he carefully read Rent Act Expert – Mr. K. K. Nariman’s Opinion, which he himself is relying on!

Nor does he want to take the Opinion of any other retired Judge or legal luminary!

If they were so confident of their stand, they should be open to taking opinions from any and every expert. The Board together can frame the Case for Opinion and send it to the experts.

Us 3 Trustees have also offered to collectively, as a Board, approach and consult legal luminaries of our Community to mediate on this issue. But that too was summarily dismissed!