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The changing of the guard at the Poona Parsee Panchayat (PPP) has proved to be a roller coaster ride with slots for two co-opted trustees on the board remaining unfilled. Though the name of Rashna Kekobad has been finalized, the current chairman Farokh Irani informed Parsiana over the telephone that the other candidate under consideration (as per the PPP constitution, five of the seven-member board must agree on the candidate) is ailing, and the search continues for a suitable person to fill the lacuna.

The existing board, which had come into being without any election being held, was fractured with the resignation in November 2010 of then chairman Noshir Nanavatti and trustee Firdosh Kayani, the former due to disagreements with the other trustees and the latter citing lack of time. Their resignations were accepted by the PPP board on December 2, 2010. In a paid advertisement in the Jam-e-Jamshed Weekly on December 5, 2010 the new chairman along with secretary Rumy Mehta, joint secretary Bahram Pashutanizadeh, treasurer Jehangir R. Daruwalla and trustee Parvez A. Kapadia announced that the resignations had been unanimously accepted and two new trustees would be co-opted. "The entire board functions in a unanimous manner,” the notice had stressed. However laudable the path of consensus may be, it has led to an unconscionably long delay in the inducting of the remaining two trustees.

In the lead-up to the last controversy ridden election Nanavatti, then a contender, had objected to the candidature of Jamshed Bokdawalla and Eruch Irani on the ground that as tenants of the PPP they were not eligible. Elections were due to be held on November 29, 2009 as the term of the previous board automatically ended on December 31 of that year. The elections were delayed when Nanavatti’s objection was contested in court by Eruch. Though the matter remains to be heard, the court directed the PPP to proceed with the polls. During this spell of uncertainty, two of the nine candidates withdrew their nominations and the remaining seven were declared elected unopposed on March 28, 2010. Soon thereafter Tanaz Irani, a member of the new board resigned and Kayani, who had served as trustee on the previous board was co-opted, as is permissible under the PPP constitution.

At the time of his resignation Nanavatti had informed the Jam-e-Jamshed over the telephone, as reported in its November 28, 2010 issue: "My colleagues on the managing committee were being extremely uncooperative and I would not like to be part of such an organization. Everybody just keeps fighting all the time.” (When Parsiana asked Nanavatti for his viewpoint, he declined, saying he did not wish to rake up the issue.) The PPP secretary’s views, as noted in the Jamé, were: "We have never been able to function as a team. There have been issues with chairman Nanavatti’s style of working. As a result, there were people pulling in different directions. Nanavatti has been threatening to resign for a while. He says he is unable to work with us. The other trustee, Firdosh Kayani (of Kayani Bakery), says he just does not have the time!” Nanavatti’s allegedly arbitrary ways were cited by other trustees as well.

Raised rents rouse ire

The introduction of new rules/criteria concerning rental rates for leave and license tenants based on full family income has stirred up more trouble for the PPP with a suit being filed by Rustom Ginwalla and others at the Charity Commissioner’s court. The petitioners’ plea is that the increase in rents is unfair. Pune Mirror, the supple­ment of The Times of India on February 5, 2011 reported that 57 members of the Bai Maneckbai P. B. Jeejeebhoy Building in Lullanagar have accused the trustees of collecting excessive rents from the tenants. According to their lawyer, the PPP is entitled to collect rents ranging from Rs 300 to Rs 500 per month, with a proportionate increase every few years. Ginwalla, who is suffering from cancer and says he moved to the charity building due to financial constraints, told the newspaper that he has to now shell out Rs 2,010 per month. The PPP chairman’s response to the charge is that under the new scheme poor tenants will pay lower rents. Every paise earned by way of rent will go towards charity, Pune Mirror reported him as saying.

Reacting to the report Mabrin Nanavatti wrote to the newspaper: "The picture given by you in the article does not disclose many facts. More than 75 percent of the occupants are still paying the same rent. Twenty percent or more are paying an excess rent of only Rs 250, which can hardly be called an increase. Only a few disgruntled occupants who have been trying to tarnish the reputation of not only the current trustees but also the past trustees... have filed this application... Rent payable outside these premises in the same area... would be approximately Rs 7,000 to Rs 8,000 with a deposit of about a lakh of rupees... And you call a rent of Rs 750 to Rs 2,050 as unfair?”

The chairman informed Parsiana over the telephone that the rents were revised upward in a phased manner as the income of many of the occupants had increased substantially after they came to reside there. The very poor occupants are being charged a nominal rent of Rs 101 only. Ginwalla, who had earlier been demanding to see the PPP accounts and had filed a number of cases against the former trustees, had gone to them and offered to withdraw all these cases if he was granted residential accommodation in the Lullanagar colony, which the earlier trustees did, the chairman said. Now that the PPP has information about Ginwalla’s financial situation, he has been asked (along with others) to pay the higher rent which in turn will be used to subsidize the rent for the marginal residents.

Fear of encroachments

The community has voiced fears over encroachment on prime properties owned by the PPP, according to Mid Day of February 21, 2011. In a case filed before the Joint Charity Commissioner of Poona this year, Ginwalla has alleged that the PPP was trying to dispose of trust properties like the Ghaswalla Building in Wanawadi and other properties in Khadakvasla and elsewhere. He also alleged that there is a "tacit understanding” between the PPP and the builders’ lobby. Many of the trust properties have deliberately been allowed to be "encroached upon” with the trustees not making any move to evict the encroachers, Ginwalla reportedly said.

The PPP chairman was categorical in dismissing these charges as "blatant lies” and figments of Ginwalla’s "imagination,” adding that these were not "his father’s” properties to be so disposed of. Even if they should be sold at any future date, there was due process to be gone through. Though Ginwalla himself has filed these cases against the PPP, he rushes to the media knowing that the matter is sub judice, the chairman told Parsiana. When asked whether dealing with these court matters impinges on the administrative working of the PPP, the chairman concurred, saying he has to spend a great deal of time running to the court and waiting for dates, not to mention the financial drain on the trust. So many of the new projects that the board would like to take up have been stalled, including housing plans for the community, he regretted.