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. He said any such amendment will 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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