2 min readMumbaiUpdated: Apr 21, 2026 12:02 PM IST
Former Tata Trusts trustee Mehli Mistry on Monday said the Trusts’ decision to seek alteration of the eligibility clauses of the Bai Hirabai trust deed is an acknowledgment that the deed clearly and unambiguously restricts trusteeship to practising Zoroastrians residing in Mumbai or Navsari.
“The present board of trustees of Bai Hirabai, comprising individuals who are either non-practising or non-Zoroastrian, is not constituted in accordance with the trust deed and must be reconstituted strictly in compliance with its provisions,” he said in a statement.
On Sunday, Tata Trusts said the board of trustees of Bai Hirabai Trust has decided to remove restrictive eligibility clauses and bring them in line with those followed by other Tata group trusts. Mistry had recently challenged the appointment and continuation of two trustees of Bai Hirabai Trust — Venu Srinivasan and Vijay Singh — before the Maharashtra Charity Commissioner as they are non-Zoroastrians.
Mistry said any such amendment would require an application before the Maharashtra Charity Commissioner, who would hear all concerned parties. “Any order passed pursuant thereto can operate only prospectively from the date of such order and cannot have retrospective effect,” he said in the statement.
“The plain language of the deed admits no alternative interpretation. Any attempt to amend a trust deed of such antiquity, being over 103 years old, is highly unlikely to succeed in law,” Mistry said in the statement.
“The Bai Hirabai Trust’s assets include, to the best of my knowledge, a Zoroastrian fire temple, the religious character of which materially constraints and complicates any proposed dilution or relaxation of the eligibility criteria,” he said.
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