Should premises in a building owned by the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) occupied by cosmopolitan tenants be first offered to Parsis when flats/shops/garages become vacant? This is the question that Minoo Nalawalla, a licensee in Cooper Building in the Chandanwadi area on Marine Lines is agitated about.
According to the 66-year-old retired employee of the Afternoon Despatch and Courier newspaper, he had assisted the BPP to obtain vacant possession of another flat in the building in 2003. The flat has been given only this year to a non-Parsi for a reported sum of Rs 25,00,000. Nalawalla believes the flat should have been offered to Parsis first as they would have been many willing to pay for the 180 sq ft premises. He cites the example of his son Zubin, working for India Bulls who got married this January to a non-Parsi, paying a high rent for a flat in Worli. The son could have possibly acquired this flat had he been allowed to bid for it, Nalawalla claims.
Nalawalla notes that Cooper Building has been put up for redevelopment by the BPP in partnership with builders Prasanna Mehta and Associates. Once the building is redeveloped the existing occupants are to be housed in flats admeasuring 300 sq ft which Nalawalla says will be worth one crore rupees at the time.
He further notes that garages in the building too are being sold to non-Parsis.
Married to Tina Fernandez, Nalawalla states the BPP asked him to sign a fresh leave and license agreement in 2010 which stated that no non-Parsi could reside in the premises. He had initially signed a license agreement in 1998 when he was allotted the premises. This was the second time they asked him to sign an agreement, he says. Subsequently he found out from a friend that a different leave and license agreement existed for cosmopolitan tenants which did not exclude non-Parsis from occupying the premises. This cosmopolitan agreement was not given to him for signing.
Nalawalla receives a subsidy of around Rs 300 from the BPP towards his rent of over Rs 600 but since May 2012 the BPP has stopped accepting rent from him.
Dabbling in real estate in Khandala where his cousin has premises, Nalawalla says he addressed the trustees at one of the meetings in January/February this year and put forth his grouses but stated he did not receive a satisfactory response. He believes the trustees do not have a right to offer premises to non-Parsis while there are Parsis on the waiting list.
The one-storey Cooper building, or chawl as it is also referred to, was gifted by a Mr Cooper to the BPP, says Nalawalla.
To ascertain the BPP’s position on allotment of premises for cosmopolitan occupation, Parsiana wrote to BPP chairman Dinshaw Mehta on February 18, 2013 stating "Mr Minoo Nalawalla, a licensee of the BPP in Cooper Building at Chandanwadi, states the BPP should offer flats/ shops/garages in cosmopolitan buildings to Parsis first and if no takers, then to non-Parsis.
"We would like to know the BPP’s policy regarding premises given on tenancy/leave and license in cosmopolitan buildings or portions of the building. Are advertisements placed or announcements made inviting offers from Parsis and non-Parsis?”
Mehli Colah, chief executive of the BPP replied promptly on February 22, 2013: "At the outset, we agree with Minoo Nalawalla that we offer flats/shops/garages in cosmopolitan buildings to Parsi/Irani Zoroastrians first and if no takers, then to non-Parsis. The same policy has been done even in our Navsari building where Parsis are given a discount and the shops and offices (are) meant for all communities.
"Nalawalla is a licensee of the BPP in Cooper Building (he being married to a non-Parsi) and his license fee is subsidized by the BPP to the extent of Rs 329 per month and he has to pay Rs 321 as against actual license fees of Rs 650.
"We are given to understand that Nalawalla was aggrieved that a vacant premise in Cooper Building was allotted to a non-Parsi and no offer was made to him as he wanted it for a member of his family.
"The BPP maintains a list of all Parsi applicants who wish to be allotted flats either free on merits or on an interest free refundable deposit. They are regularly contacted as and when such a premise is to be allotted. Whereas the BPP, even in its cosmopolitan buildings, always prefers to make allotments to Parsi/Irani Zoroastrians, you will appreciate that it would not be in the interest of the Trust to offer a flat to a licensee who cannot afford to pay even a low license fee without subsidy, let alone market rent! For your information, we may add that there is an enclosed garage in the same building which is being offered to Parsi/Irani Zoroastrians, but as yet there are no takers. In fact we have contacted (Parsi owned firms) Chemould and Parsi Dairy Farm to give (them the) first opportunity but their response is still awaited.”