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"About the year 1908 Ratanbai Edulji Bamji, of the Tata family donated her bungalow with land measuring 1,10,000 sq ft to the community to be used as a sanatorium by members of the Parsi community staying in remote villages who could come to Navsari for medical treatment or for a change.
"She also donated Rs 1,50,000 to construct blocks. The property was handed over to Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) to take care and maintain it from time to time.”
So writes Navsari resident and trustee of the Navsari Samast Jarthosti General Fund Jemy Bacha in a letter dated December 23, 2016 to the chairman of the BPP, Yazdi Desai. Parsiana carries a few extracts from the missive after minor editing.
"The property in the main area, the heart of Navsari’s Lunsikui, was in good use by the Parsis. Each and every block was furnished with all facilities such as beds, utensils and crockery. The property was well maintained. In the year 2001, the BPP constructed two multistoried buildings at the front of the property.
"According to the Bombay Public Trust Act the property has to be registered at the charity commissioner’s office where the property stands. This has not been done till now. The BPP may have registered the document in Bombay. If so, have you filed any scheme to change the deed of the trust? Even so, changing the trust deed cannot allow you to construct any building on the land.

 

 

 

 

"How did the BPP obtain permission? How was the housing association formed to sell this property? Who granted permission to lease these flats for 30 years? Why has the registration of flats not been done till now?            
"The BPP constructed a third building which is ready since the last five years and flats have not yet been allotted. The cost of the building is about eight crore rupees. Who is responsible for this amount lying dormant since the last five years? Who shall repay this loss of five years of interest of eight crore rupees to the community? Who shall be held responsible for this?
"A girls hostel where poor daughters of our community from remote villages were staying and studying, was run by the Nanabhoy Bejonji Choksi Trust at the front of this property. The hostel was shut down and the building demolished.           
"Has anything good been done for the people of Navsari from the handsome amount that you collected from these two buildings? How much have the people of Bombay benefited from this amount?”       
Parsiana sent a copy of Bacha’s letter to Desai on January 2, 2017 and requested a response by February 1, 2017. Copies were also sent by email to all the other trustees. No responses were received. Instead, in the WAPIZ (World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis) Page of February 17, a reply was given to similar allegations raised by former BPP chairman Dinshaw Mehta in the Parsi Darshan column in The Bombay Samachar of February 12, 2017. Mehta stated that "a building in Navsari over which the BPP spent several crores for construction is ready for allotment since last few years, but for some reason is lying unallotted. If it is sold even at a reasonable rate, it could yield Rs 10 to 12 crores for the BPP.”
The article in the WAPIZ Page states, "First of all, in his seven years as chairman, Dinshaw Mehta made no effort to update the Navsari property card to bring on record the new trustees elected in October 2008. The property card still shows the names of the trustees of the old board led by chairman Minoo Shroff, so selling the flats in the new C building, will be an issue until the new trustees are brought on record, which task the new chairman Yazdi Desai has himself undertaken.
"More importantly, all the monies received on the sale of the earlier two A and B buildings constructed in the Bamji Sanatorium complex at Navsari have been spent by Dinshaw Mehta with-out investing in stipulated fixed deposits.”