I believe that, in furtherance of the principles of the Jiyo Parsi scheme, young Zoroastrians who want to raise a family and are unable to do so for want of adequate accommodation, need to be given priority in housing by the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP).
There is a general misconception in the community that the earlier board of trustees sold/auctioned vacant flats. I believe that what they actually did was to sell the "tenancy rights” (TR) in accordance with the Maharashtra Rent Control Act, whilst continuing to be owners of the flats as landlords. The amount accruing from this legal transaction is shared by the landlord and the outgoing tenant. I also understand that the new "occupant” is then allotted the flat by the BPP on a leave and license basis and not under tenancy, which is a wise move.
The procedure of selling TR has been discontinued by the current board, as a result of which there are as many as 100 unoccupied flats, with some of them being used as holiday homes by a few members of our diaspora.
Let us assume that the sale of the TR of a flat will fetch the BPP one crore rupees. This amount would normally go into the BPP corpus, but if the BPP would instead open a separate account and invest this money, it would fetch them substantial interest whilst keeping the corpus safe.
The BPP could then take on long lease two or more flats and offer them to young couples on a nominal lease rental. It could even give the allottees the option of finding a suitable flat for themselves from the sanctioned amount. With 100 flats on the anvil, practically everyone on the waiting list could be housed.
I appreciate that this will not be as simple as it is made out to be. Will the BPP be willing to venture into a totally new dimension of taking on lease apartments which could resolve the housing problem? Will our young folk be willing to shift into a cosmopolitan environment? I suggest that those who refuse to comply should be moved to the bottom of the waiting list. There will be many other associated administrative and legal issues, but nothing that cannot be resolved. I believe this could result in a win-win situation for all.
Cmde M. BHADA (Retd)
mrbhada@gmail.com