Over two years after the historic elections to the Bombay Parsi Punchayet, one of the trustees put in his papers on Thursday morning. "Serious differences” with the other trustees was the reason given by Noshir Dadrawala for his resignation.
"There were several differences on a range of issues and over a period of time I felt a sense of incompatibility with other board members," Dadrawala told TOI.
"The differences were irreconcilable and I thought resigning was the most honourable thing to do."
Dadrawala, who also heads the Centre for Advancement of Philanthropy, said that he could not function with so much of "negativity” building up around him. "I do not wish to create any bad blood," he said.
When contacted Dinshaw Mehta, chairman of the BPP, confirmed that the resignation had been accepted. "No particular reason has been mentioned in the letter," said the chairman, adding that fresh election would have to be held to fill up the vacant seat and this would "unnecessarily cost money".
The 2008 elections to the BPP was a historic one-for the first time in the history of the 350-year-old Punchayet, adult franchise was exercised, following the approval of the Bombay high court. Every Parsi over the age of 18 was eligible to elect their representatives to the seven seats on the BPP."The election for the vacated seat will now have to be held, spread over four to five days at the four venues at Fort, Colaba, Andheri and Dadar," informed Mehta.
There are around 23,000 Parsis who are eligible to vote in the elections.
The BPP is one of the largest private landlords in the city, with over 5,000 tenements under its control.
