An election for seven seats on the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) trusteeship board should take place before or by mid-2022.
A Bombay High Court division bench of Justices Sharukh Kathawalla and Milind Jadhav has ruled: "It is in the interest of the respondent trust (BPP), and in this regard all trustees unanimously agree, that elections for the post of all seven trustees be held at the same time as opposed to elections to fill in only two vacant posts which would then require staggered elections to be held in future as the terms of different trustees would come to an end on different dates.
Justices Sharukh Kathawalla (l) and Milind Jadhav
"Holding elections for all seven posts at the same time would be cost-effective both now and in the future…
"We are therefore of the opinion the miscellaneous petition… seeking the sanction of this Court to the proposed amendments to the scheme… be heard and decided at the earliest so that the elections can in turn be held at the earliest.”
The decision follows several virtual hearings this January attended by the lawyers for the two warring factions of the trustees. BPP chairwoman Armaity Tirandaz, trustees Viraf Mehta and Xerxes Dastur, who are in the majority on the current five-member board, were insistent the reforms to the election scheme be carried out prior to the elections taking place, while trustees Noshir Dadrawala and Kersi Randeria, who are in the minority, were fearful the reforms would be dragged out over months and therefore wanted the long delayed and thrice postponed elections to be held first. The reforms include shortening a trustee’s term from seven to five years and limiting a trustee’s tenure to 10 years from the present 21.
The trio "had argued that they have no intention of delaying the proposed election for the posts of all seven trustees…and have already filed a miscellaneous petition” for the same, noted the judges. "Immediately upon the disposal of the miscellaneous petition, a schedule for early elections may be fixed by this Court… All the existing trustees undertake to abide by that schedule and hand over charge to the newly elected board of trustees, notwithstanding that the same may be prior to the end date of any existing trustee’s term of office,” the bench noted.