Bombay Parsi Punchayet to appoint a new chairman

Yazdi H Desai has been the chairman of BPP for five years

The Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) Board of Trustees is set to meet in the next few days to appoint a new chairman after current chairman Yazdi H Desai gave in his resignation on December 23.

Desai, who held the prestigious post for five years, has resigned citing health reasons. The BPP's Viraf Mehta said, "The Board is set to meet within a few days to accept Desai's resignation and appoint a new chairman. This will be a zoom (virtual meet)."

Desai in his resignation, addressed to colleague trustees of the BPP, stated that as all of them are aware, he had suffered a stroke in April this year. The letter said further, "Doctors have informed me that full recovery may take longer than I had anticipated, due in no small measure to the fact that I was unable to get any therapy for the initial four months, due to the prevailing pandemic situation."

Terming it necessary to take this "hard and painful decision", Desai said that to fast-track his full recovery, his doctors have ordered him to avoid stress. He added that for the past 20 years, his life has revolved around his community and the Punchayet. Desai ended his letter saying it has been a "privilege and honour" to serve the community, acknowledging the support of his wife, Anahita.

The letter has been copied to Armaity Tirandaz, Kersi Randeria, Noshir Dadrawala, Viraf Mehta and Xerxes Dastur. A BPP election is supposed to be held on March 14, 2021, for two trustee seats. While Desai has been told to stay away from stress to aid full recovery, his wife Anahita believes she can take all the heat and dust that accompanies the high stakes, high profile Punchayet polls, with community-centric social media full of bouquets, barbs, brickbats and some balanced comments too, as the contest heats up. Anahita Desai said, "Yes, I am definitely going to contest," in response to a question.