The BPP trustees had written to the minister that the special audit fee of Rs1.20 crore was very high and either the complainant or the previous board of trustees pay it.
Minister of state for law and justice Hasan Mushrif has landed himself in trouble by asking for a report on the special audit of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) ordered by the charity commissioner’s office.
Percy Patel, on whose complaint the special audit was ordered, has alleged that by asking for the report the minister has violated the model code of conduct in force for the assembly elections. He has also charged the minister and the BPP trustees with contempt of court for not acting on the charity commissioner’s (a quasi-judicial authority) orders.
Patel said he will approach the chief electoral officer and file a complaint against the minister of violation of the model code of conduct. DNA had reported on September 11 that a show-cause notice had been served on BPP trustees for not obeying the charity commissioner’s order for carrying out a special audit for 11 years.
The BPP trustees had written to the minister that the special audit fee of Rs1.20 crore was very high and either the complainant or the previous board of trustees pay it. They also demanded a stay on the special audit as the charity commissioner’s office had declined to part with the preliminary report on the basis of which the audit was ordered.
“They are fooling people by saying that the audit fee of Rs1.20 crore is high,” Patel said. “It is simply 0.9% of their annual income and the total amount is for 10 years of audit.
They are not transparent and scuttling the audit. We have served notice on the officer who signed the order and sent the contempt order by post since the minister refused to accept it citing the poll code of conduct.” Patel intends to begin criminal proceedings against the minister and the punchayet if they fail to reply to the notice in three days. Despite repeated attempts, Mushrif was unavailable for comment.
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