Clarification of Armaity Rustom Tirandaz to the article that appeared on Page 3 of the Parsi Times dated 27/08/16 of Mr. Yezdi Desai. My Two Part Reply

First – I have no intention to and have not stopped any allotment of housing.
Second – Why are the Minutes of BPP meetings not been passed since the board of October 2015 took their oath. Is the

Community is being kept in the loop, or is it being kept in a noose, why are the dissenting voices being silenced.
I would like to outline the True facts and dispel the half truths and the dissemination of convenient information. Now that there is no recourse of clarification available and the community press is no longer an option for me, I will henceforth utilize my facebook page to bring my standpoint to the community and strive to bring the true transparency.

First
Facts:
1. As pointed out by Mr. Yezdi Desai, 75 allotments were made since October 2015. He fails to point out that I have also been part of this and signatory to the same, and it is no single individual’s great achievement.

2. On 25th July 2016, ALL trustees have received notice from Advocates and Solicitors “Vigil Juris” on behalf of their client Mr. Muncherji Cama. Wherein, among other things, it has been stated that, “It is pertinent to note that our client Mr. Muncherji Cama continues to sign all documents relating to court matters as a trustee of the said trust and is also the signatory of the bank accounts of the said trust till date”. It also states, “The said scheme categorically enunciates that the Trust shall be administered by Seven Trustees. Consequently, for the purposes of execution of any instrument transferring and conveying any property of the Trust, signature of all seven trustees are mandatory”.

3. On receipt of this notice, myself and Viraf Mehta suggested that we consult a Senior Council in an official capacity before moving further with any further documentation on housing. This would ensure that we as prudent Trustees are not faltering or functioning outside the law on this matter. The majority trustees comprising of Mr. Yezdi Desai, Mr. Randeria, Mr. Dadrawalla and Mr. Bhatenna felt it unnecessary and ignored this plea. Based on the assumption of majority right and might they have decided to go ahead with legal documentation on the housing.

4. Neither, myself nor Viraf Mehta had at any point stated that we are not willing to allot housing. We have only pleaded that an official opinion of a Senior Council be taken before we move forward. Viraf and myself had finally no option but to serve notice to the Registrar’s office, to ensure that the Trust is not in any violation of the law.

5. I have yet not seen an official report of any Senior Council from which Mr. Yezdi Desai has drawn his opinion that, “we have enough legal precedence and validation to enforce the doctrine of majority as enshrined in our Scheme of Elections and endorsed by the courts”, which he states in his article.

6. If I have clarity on this issue as I have requested the other trustees as above, I am more than willing to move forward productively on the housing front, until such time the matter of Mr. Cama will have to be heard and the Courts will have to decide.

7. It is unfortunate that the Majority trustees ignored the notice of Vigil Juris dated 25th July 2016 and yet invited our Vada Dasturji Kotwal on 12th August 2016. It is not my intention to stall or stop any housing of the BPP as is stated by Mr. Yezdi Desai in his very cavalier fashion.

8. A point to note is that it has been Mr. Yezdi Desai’s representation at the Charity Commissioners office who have taken dates on more than two dozen occasions with regards to the hearing of Mr. Cama’s case, why are they stalling the process of law.

9. I am also perplexed why this article comes across as an official statement on behalf of the BPP made by the Chairman Mr. Desai, since it seems to have appeared on what is to be the “BPP Connect” page as mentioned by the Editor on the same page. If it is an official statement by the BPP, it has never been perused by me before it was sent out to Parsi Times. I guess the community should expect only this level of transparency and accountability in the future as well.

10. Mr. Deasi may also note that my only benefactor was and always will be the community; I am over 70 years old and I have learnt enough in my time to know that I am obedient only to my Aura Mazda who takes great care of me and my needs. Mr. Yezdi Desai needn’t worry about my conscience but his own.

 

Second
1. Mr. Yezdi Desai, who is the current Chairman of the BPP and a Corporate Director who is serving a second term as a Trustee, so should be well versed with the workings and procedures of the BPP.

2. I have on several occasions pointed out my deep concern to the members of the Board, with regards to the issue that the minutes of meetings have not been passed since the new board took office in October 2015. I pointed out that it would be a repeat of the mistakes of the earlier board. I have also put my letter on record dated “20/07/2016” which is as under:

“To The Chairman and Trustees of the BPP,

I am writing to you all to bring on record the following points which I have addressed several times in our board meetings but my words seem to have been ignored.

The fact that Minutes of meetings have not been passed is becoming more and more alarming to me. How are we to keep track and record of our meetings and decision making. We must be prudent on this issue so that any trustee sitting on the board now or in the future has a track of how a decision was arrived at and the flow of any meeting.

I brought this matter up again in our meeting ie Tuesday the 28th of June 2016. After stressing on the importance of this issue to you all, the Chairman Mr. Desai who assured us all that the minutes would be discussed and passed in the next meeting on 5th July 2016, it wasn’t even brought on the agenda at that time. In the last meeting on the 12th of July 2016 when I brought this issue up again we were assured by Mr. Desai that we would have the meeting of the 13th which was the next day dedicated for the same. Unfortunately that meeting was cancelled, in which case I had expected that this issue would be added to the Agenda for today’s meeting. The fact that this is not done is alarming.

I propose that we move ahead to bring on the agenda the passing of minutes to the next board meeting. With this lax approach to one of the most fundamental record keeping methods that we as trustees should be doing, we cannot expect to bring transparency to the beneficiaries of this institution. And a practice of weekly passing of the Board meeting minutes should be adhered to.

I for one feel urgency on this matter and hope to garner the support of the other trustees to follow suit. If my reasoning is ignored by the other trustees I would be compelled to find an alternative mode of a personal record keeping of BPP meetings that is possible in my capacity. It cannot be expected of any trustee to remember what was going on in any meeting more than a few meetings ago. Once again I urge you my co trustees to take this matter very seriously.

Respectfully
Armaity Rustom Tirandaz”

 

3. All or majority of the Resolutions in the DRAFT of the Minutes are dictated by Mr. Randeria and not the Chairman Mr. Desai. We are functioning since October 2015 ONLY on the DRAFT Resolutions!.

4. As per the dictat of the Chariman Mr. Yezdi Desai – Mr. Viraf Mehta and myself have been denied the minutes and copies of other documents of the Wadia Committee meetings. These instructions have been given, even without me having any legal conflict of interest and despite me being an elected representative of/by the community. I have received an email dated 9th August 2016 supporting the claim.

5. Mr. Yezdi Desai as the chairman has in a very cavalier manner ignored all norms of the Agenda, wherein we as trustees should be first reading, confirming and passing the minutes of the previous meeting before we continue other items on the agenda for that day. In fact, this is a precedent set by himself during his first term – where the minutes were not passed for over one and a half years. The same can be confirmed by the other trustees.

7. A prudent Chairman should be conducting the meetings to bring harmony on the board which is lacking miserably. I need to make it abundantly clear that, I act in my individual capacity and not as a “like minded group”, who may be restrained in giving their “individual” opinions.

8. There is more opacity than transparency in our working, and dissenting voices are silenced. I know not what transparency Mr. Desai speaks of, when despite being a sitting trustee I am myself being denied my fundamental right.
Henceforth, from time to time I will be using my Facebook page as a mode of communication with concerned beneficiaries of this Trust. If you know of anyone who wants clarifications please point them to this page. I don’t have any other mode of communicating my message to the masses.

In the words of Mr. Yezdi Desai (and the only words I agree with), “ We know that when we do good, Ahura Mazda will always be with us! Amen!”