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The status of the Ghaswalla Bungalow (GB) and outhouses situated in Poona’s Wanowrie Bazar has become a focal point of community controversy, a police inquiry and possibly another property court battle. The 1.6-acre complex in the Cantonment area of the bustling Deccan Plateau city shot into prominence when Poona Parsee Panchayat (PPP) vice chairman Yezdi Motiwalla raised the issue in a video taken at the premises and uploaded it on WhatsApp this mid-August.
He alleged that Dorabjee and Company that had been given the bungalow on rent had encroached upon the "courtyard” which Motiwalla claimed vested with the PPP. He also contended the property was given for residential purposes but was allegedly being used commercially as "godowns, optical factory and laundry,” according to a notice dated August 23, 2022 from the Poona Cantonment Board addressed to the PPP chairman, vice-chairman and a Dorabjee director. "They are misusing the area,” Motiwalla claimed in the video. He and a Sharukh Irani created on March 25, 2019 a WhatsApp group titled "Ghaswalla Baugh Supporter,” whose object is to "Free GB from all illegal occupants.” The group currently has around 155 participants.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

His allegations are refuted by Dorabjee director Farsheed Patell who stated that Motiwalla "needs to get his facts right…We have been using the property for commercial purposes ever since 1979…This has been upheld in court twice… the last as recently as March this year when we filed consent terms. There is no ambiguity that the property was allotted for non-residential purposes.” The director shared with Parsiana a copy of the PPP allotment letter dated November 6, 1979 which states, "‘The said block is let out to us for godown purposes only’… We use the premises for receiving material and delivering to our stores,” Patell told us. The 111-year-old establishment owns and operates what is believed to be Poona’s oldest chain of supermarkets and grocery stores. "Dorabjee is the sole user of the property… We recently spent about 10 lakh rupees on renovating the property… and we have not sublet any portion of it, as alleged… (Motiwalla) is targeting us for personal reasons,” the director said.
"They are almost running a workshop there,” alleged Motiwalla on August 18, speaking to Parsiana about his mission. "I will fight till I die… I am fighting all alone.” He shared with Parsiana the Cantonment Board’s letter of December 2013 asking PPP to show cause "why action should not be initiated for resumption of the said property.” The Cantonment Board stated the property was to be used for residential purposes only. PPP had filed a suit for possession in the Small Causes Court against Dorabjee and Patell in December 2015.
Motiwalla contends the PPP’s case was vitiated by the previous board agreeing to a settlement with Dorabjee just before the March 13, 2022 elections. Motiwalla was voted in as a trustee of the Panchayat along with six others in that election (see "Poona board’s priorities,” Events and Personalities, Parsiana, April 7-20, 2022). He shared with Parsiana a copy of the settlement dated March 3, 2022. "What was the need to agree to a settlement when the matter was in court?” Motiwalla rhetorically questioned. But Patell told Parsiana that discussions on the settlement had been "going on for a long time… What you can do with a smile is best… You know how our courts work… We did not want to prolong the matter.”
Erstwhile trustee Homi Kaikobad, who reportedly spearheaded the March settlement, spoke to Parsiana on August 19 stating that he acted in good faith. "I got a substantial increase in rent for the trust…They have paid up all their arrears… I do not know why (Motiwalla) is saying such things about me.”
Six of the new seven-member board decided this August to again proceed legally against Dorabjee. PPP chairman Tehmasp Bharucha and Motiwalla received a notice from the Wanowrie (Wanwadi) police station to be present on August 29 in regard to Motiwalla’s entry into GB on August 11 at 5.30 p.m. "Charges were 15 to 17 people gathered… and tried to forcefully enter GB.” Motiwalla said. He denied the allegation and noted six of the 12 or so persons who entered were senior citizens. He thanked the police officers for giving them "a patient hearing and for hearing our grievances.” 
 "Members have a misconception that I am only after Dorabjee…My fight is to get the entire 1.6 acres of land which is 90% encroached upon mostly by non-Zoroastrians,” stated Motiwalla on August 20 on the GB WhatsApp group. Only five bungalows are occupied by Zoroastrians, he states and alleges that "all 30 outhouses (are) captured by non-Zoroastrians on which PPP is not taking a single naya paise… Most shocking since 1960 no case is also put up in a court of law…If I am putting my genuine efforts without any bias (or) favor and acting as a sitting trustee all alone without the support of my co-trustees to fight this Herculean task and to get GB back to the trust, where am I going wrong?” He claims that he has "proposed to make a lovely old age home in that beautiful greenery scenic peaceful location of 1.6 acres to create for our community and generations to enjoy this beautiful place.” 
[An earlier board of trustees had proposed to convert their Talukdar Building on Main Street housing their Seth Dadabhoy P. B. Jeejeebhoy Hostel for Zoroastrian Students into an old age home (see "The hostel dilemma,” Parsiana, July 21, 2020).] "There is no proposal to convert this (Talukdar Building) to an old age home now,” Bharucha told Parsiana.
Bharucha stated that he is not appreciative of his co-trustee taking to social media on the GB matter. Speaking to Parsiana on August 22, Bharucha stated that "a trustee cannot go the media with accusations… We need to follow the rules…follow procedure… If we have to, we must take legal action to protect our rights… All allegations being put (by Motiwalla) are not in good taste… While we have to protect our properties… PPP cannot be run on social media.” Bharucha said he did not understand why Motiwalla proclaimed he is fighting the matter alone. "It was he who wanted to handle this independently.”
Motiwalla brought to light the plight of other PPP properties. "Even our Dubash Estate at Khadakwasla is 100% encroached… No past trustee has filed the case… I want to do that too,” he noted in a communication, adding that yet another co-trustee should "take responsibilities of the Dubash encroachment.” He is also concerned about the loss of one acre of land in a property known as 603 North. He wanted another co-trustee "to find out how the land (has) shrunk.”
In the meanwhile Motiwalla says he has already written to the Prime Minister’s Office and the Food and Drug Administration on the issue. "Await my press conference,” he stated, in a missive dated August 22.