The Bombay high court on Thursday ruled that the withdrawal of resignation of the four trustees of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) was valid and they still continue to be trustees.
Justice Roshan Dalvi ruled that Minoo Shroff, Dinshaw Tamboly, Maneck Engineer and Burjor Antia who had resigned and later withdrawn their resignations last year was a valid action and there was no need for them to vacate their office.
Three Parsis – Khojeste Mistree, Hoshang Wania and Yazdi Desai – had approached the High Court questioning whether the act of the trustees was valid and whether they should continue to hold their seats as trustees.
Parsi Punchayet had six trustees in all. Last year three trustees - Dinshaw Tamboly, Maneck Engineer and Burjor Antia – had resigned by sending their resignation letters to the chairman Minoo Shroff. Later Shroff too resigned by sending his resignation to the other two trustees (Dinshaw Mehta and Dadi Engineer). However, following a public outcry, they had withdrawn their resignations and rejoined the trustees board.
The Parsi Punchayet rules provide that the resignation has to be sent to all the remaining trustees. In this case, the first three trustees had sent their resignation letter only to Chairman Shroff. Whereas when Shroff resigned, he had sent the resignation only to the other two trustees.
{{/usCountry}}The Parsi Punchayet rules provide that the resignation has to be sent to all the remaining trustees. In this case, the first three trustees had sent their resignation letter only to Chairman Shroff. Whereas when Shroff resigned, he had sent the resignation only to the other two trustees.
{{/usCountry}}As the resignation was not sent to all the trustees, it was not a valid resignation. Hence their act of withdrawing the resignation was valid, the BPP argued.