Parsiana seldom receives information about the activities of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) but on rare occasions the BPP trustees learn of developments in their trust from Parsiana. When Parsiana put up a post on October 8, 2018 mentioning that BPP chairman Yazdi Desai had filed on September 16 an application "seeking exemption from payment of bonus under the provisions of section 36 of the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965,” his six co-trustees were caught off guard. They were not only unaware of the application but had jointly agreed with Desai to pay the Rs 76,81,525 bonus due to the 300 or so employees of the trust.
Parsiana had sent WhatsApp messages to BPP trustees Noshir Dadrawala and Kersi Randeria on October 8 at 1.55 p.m. inquiring if Desai "consult(ed) his co-trustees when filing the exemption from bonus application?” Dadrawala replied "No” but added "In any case as per last signed agreement I feel bonus will have to be given by around Diwali or eight months before close of FY (financial year) 2017-18 as per law. Bonus is an entitlement.” Desai’s closest ally on the board, if not only, Randeria did not reply.
BPP trustee Viraf Mehta, however, told Parsiana that, "Yazdi acted without the knowledge or consent of any of the trustees. This cannot be presented as the view of the board. At best, this is Yazdi’s personal view.” He added that the board had agreed to pay the bonus.
Desai’s eight-page application dated September 16 with seven pages of annexures was addressed to the Secretary, The Government of Maharashtra, Industries, Energy and Labour Department. After stating the BPP is a registered charitable trust involved in amelioration of poverty, the letter claims "in view of the precarious financial position of the Punchayet, it is unable to make any disbursement of bonus to its employees for the calendar years 2017 and 2018.” "Currently, the amount of funds lying to the credit of the Punchayet is approximately Rs 41,29,382.03 as on August 14, 2018 which amounts are required towards payment of wages and salaries of the employees on a month to month basis and for meeting other routine administrative expenses,” Desai stated.
According to him "the current annual cost towards salary and wages of the employees amount to Rs 10,44,87,636” which works out to Rs 87,07,303 per month. This means the Rs 41lakhs in the BPP coffers would cover less than half a month’s salary. A new wage agreement was due in January 2018 and the BPP alleges if the Mumbai Mazdoor Sabha’s present demands were acceded to, an annual "net burden of Rs 3,44,09,264” would be added
According to the Union’s general secretary Dhunji Naterwalla, the BPP has deducted one day’s salary from their employees for taking mass casual leave on August 21 to protest the non-payment of bonus before the Parsi New Year (August 17) as has been the custom. This, despite an unfair labor practices complaint being filed in the Industrial Labour Court.