Surat Parsi Panchayat and PSCF Mumbai violating the Supreme Court judgment

Surat : When it comes to selling trust-owned properties in prime locations in Surat, the trustees of Surat Parsi Panchayat (SPP) and the Parsee Surat Charity Funds (PSCF), Mumbai, appear to think they are superior to the Supreme Court of India.

The Supreme Court ruled on January 28, 2022 in the Parsi trust case that such public control is essential in the context of religious endowments because there is a risk of misappropriation of public funds and properties without it. The goal of public oversight is to guarantee a competent and transparent trust administration.

A panel of three Supreme Court justices (Justice Uday Umesh Lalkit, Justice S. Ravindra Bhat, and Justice Bela M Trivedi) ruled that the Anjuman’s decision to sell its properties must be the result of a two-tiered process in which all of its members had a voice.

The trust’s charitable, senior citizen, educational, medical, and religious obligations imposed by the consideration arising from the sale should also be clearly outlined and disclosed in order to make an informed decision. Most importantly, it is recommended that the properties be appraised and offered for sale through public tender.

The Registrar, who can help carry out the decision to sell to the highest bidder, through public tender, should be provided with a recent valuation of each property that is proposed to be sold.

With effect from January 1, 2021, the Surat Parsi community unanimously decided and ruled out PSCF, Mumbai chaired by Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy, the eighth baronet, from interfering in the administration of the Parsi Panchayat and Properties Funds or any of the other Trust Funds/Institutions associated with SPP. The Parsis of Surat also decided that they would not allow the PSCF in Mumbai to appoint any new trustees at Surat or to transfer even one rupee from the SPP Trust funds in Surat to Mumbai.

The Gujarat High Court ruled in 2018 that the PSCF (Mumbai)’s provisions in its deduced trust deed to appoint trustees in SPP and to collect income from Surat Parsi Panchayat Trust Funds were ‘For Times Being’ only.

The Supreme Court of India ruled that all Anjuman members must vote on the question of whether or not to sell the properties as part of a two-tiered process before the matter can be resolved. The SPP and PSCF (Mumbai) are not complying with the apex court’s order and are selling the prime properties through “intentional negligence, malpractices, corrupt administration, colonialism, imperialism, and nepotism,” as one Parsi community member put it.