Bomay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) chairman Yazdi Desai’s decision to personally host the annual BPP staff jashan and dinner further upset his six co-trustees. As it is they were annoyed at his autocratic and arbitrary decision making manner.
Six of the seven trustees were reportedly prepared to write to the staff stating that the jashan and dinner was a BPP affair, but finally decided not to do so.
From left: Yazdi Desai, Noshir Dadrawala, Kersi Randeria
Relations between Desai and his co-trustees have been strained for some time.
He also decided to give "cash awards/rewards to his loyal subjects/staff,” stated BPP trustee Noshir Dadrawala in a WhatsApp message dated January 1, 2019 to community members. "In my opinion it is a disastrous start made by the ‘Chairman by Default’ to the year 2019. His autocratic behavior has reached an all-time low… He owes his apology to all his colleagues and the community.”
The internecine tussle among the trustees spilt out in the general media, with the mid-day of January 7 quoting Desai as stating he "would be filing a case of criminal defamation against Dadrawala.”
In an article in The Hindu dated January 7, correspondent Jyoti Shelar commented, "for the past several years, the BPP trustees have been infamous for infighting. Trustees have filed first information reports, cases in the economic offences wing and had even come to… blows in public.”
The allegation against Desai by Dadrawala included signing a leave and license agreement "without the knowledge or approval of his co-trustees,” not withdrawing the case against Rustom Baug tenant Dr Porus Turner, allotting an ownership flat to a non-Parsi and permitting his wife Anahita to act as a "shadow chairperson.”
On January 5, Desai stated on social media that "most community members find it more fruitful to approach Anahita for help than Dadrawala.” Regarding the staff function, Desai stated, "It was my personal function, the expenses of which were borne entirely by me… I invited all the trustees and all their families… with a special request to Viraf Mehta not to bring his father Dinshaw.”
As for the leave and license agreement, Desai claimed that as per the consent terms filed before Justice Sharukh Kathawala in the Bombay High Court "an agreement can be registered with whoever of the trustees have signed the agreement after 10 days of the agreement being ready. The ownership flat was given to a non-Parsi to facilitate her moving out of a premium Khareghat Colony flat.”