OSA was established in the year 1973. Previously, it was Old Boys’ Association. The then Principal, Mr. Kader Hussain, who was the ex-officio President of OSA, suggested change in the name, as, by then, girls began taking admission in engineering courses. So it was named Old Students’ Association to accommodate lady members.

There was much poverty then. Some students went without lunch as they did not have money to buy food. OSA started its activities by providing free lunch to such students, a Book Bank from where students got text and reference books for free and financial assistance to needy.

It was registered in the year 1974. The first President was Mr. Kader Husain, Principal of the Polytechnic then. Mr. Qader Khan was Vice President. Mr. Haroon Azmi was General Secretary. Mr. Shaikh Abdus Samad was Treasurer. All of them, except Qader Husain Saheb, were past students of MHSSP and they were serving as lecturers at that point of time. The founding members were Mr. Qader Kahn, Mr. M. Haroon, Mr. Shaikh A. Samad, Mr. Momin Khan, Mr. Ashfaque Butt, Mr. Sabir Khan, Mr. Nazir Durwesh and Mr. Abdur Rahim Husain.

OSA’s activities expanded to vocational guidance, career counseling, conferring awards to toppers, motivational programs and such other co-curricular functions for students, apart from providing financial assistance to poor and needy students. Around 1984, some members objected to the Polytechnic Principal being President of students’ organization and propagated their views among members. Soon there was uproar. In an Annual General Meeting there was a high voltage drama. Finally it was decided to have president from amongst student-members. Qader Khan was elected as the President. Activities continued.

Somewhere in the year 1986, OSA began Guidance Coaching Classes for IX and X students in the Polytechnic itself. Then these classes were moved to UP Haj House in Nagpada in 1990. These classes were free. Out of 100 students enrolled, about 90 students left by the close of the year, only 10 remained. Next year a small amount of Rs. 100 per annum was fixed. Even then out of about 100 who took admission, only 20 continued for the whole year. It struck to us that free or concessional classes, though offering very good curriculum, were considered of no value. So we began charging reasonable fees. As the fees grew, more and more students attended classes through the whole year.

OSA now had a good number of students, and the place offered by UP Haj House began falling short. With guidance and support of some good Samaritans, we approached BMC for class rooms in nearby Municipal school. Four class rooms, an office and a teachers’ room were allocated to OSA on the second floor of BMC’s Sofia Zuber Municipal School. Soon, BMC’s Underia Street Municipal School was also shifted to these premises as BMC began losing students and schools falling empty. These classes fared very well and generated enough funds for all activities of OSA.

Mr. Qader Khan resigned as President of OSA in 1994 due to his very busy schedule in films. Mr. Mohammad Haroon was elected as President in his place. Mr. Abdur Razzak Waghoo-was elected General Secretary while Mr. Nazir Durwesh continued as Treasurer.

Around 1995, Mr. Qader Khan got his daughter married. He went to the then Chief Minister Mr. Sharad Pawar to invite him for the marriage. During chat, Mr. Sharad Pawar asked Qader Khan Saheb whether OSA would like to have a plot in Navi Mumbai to expand its education plans. Mr. Qader Khan welcomed the idea and assented. There and then, Mr. Sharad Pawar called Chairman of CIDCO and asked him to allot a good plot to OSA for expansion of their educational activities.

The process then began. Mr. Aleem Shaikh, Mr. Sabir Khan, Mr. GM Siddiqui and Mr. Anwar Azad ran from Mumbai to Kokan Bhavan many times, got the plot inspected, allocated and finally an agreement was signed between OSA and CIDCO for purchase of the plot at Rs. 40,00,000 in 1992. OSA paid the initial amount of Rs. 400,000 with donations, but balance of 36,00,000 was a difficult task for it. Maulana Ziyauddin Bukhari came to our rescue and assured that he would arrange funds from a businessman in Dubai. Haji Kalsekar then came into picture. He provided most of the funds and thus, OSA paid for and got the plot. The plot was a low lying place and water logged. For some time OSA tried to get it filled by CIDCO, but CIDCO refused. This took away a lot of time.

Then, proposals after proposals came. OSA tried on its own to build a polytechnic there, but could not succeed. Time limit for starting construction and completing the project as per terms of contract with CIDCO was fast slipping out. There was difference of opinion amongst OSA members whether to get assistance from some other organization, fund provider or to return the plot to CIDCO. A proposal came from Anjuman-i-Islam to hand the plot over to them. Haji Kalsekar supported this.

Finally, OSA handed over the plot to Anjuman on a few weak conditions. A tripartite agreement was signed between OSA, CIDCO and Anjuman in 1998 and the plot was handed over to Anjuman. Anjuman did not honor even the meager terms set out in an agreement between OSA and Anjuman. Till date, it has kept OSA out of administering the institution built on its plot. Other conditions that were enjoyed by OSA even before donating the plot were fulfilled as gratitude. OSA was allowed to use office space in MHSSP in place of an independent office it occupied and used before donation of land. The only thing OSA got was a 500 square foot office in the new institution in New Panvel.

The new institution was fully funded by Haji Kalsekar and was named after him. In spite of several requests, written and oral, and in spite of assurances, only oral, from Anjuman, OSA does not find any mention of its donation on the plot. The Local Managing Committee for the new Polytechnic, with five members from OSA, never had any part to play in administering the new polytechnic. OSA had demanded that stationary store, xerox centre and canteen in the new polytechnic be allocated to OSA so that it could generate some funds for its activities. We received only promises as against these requests. The xerox centre in MHSS Polytechnic, which began as a student service activity somewhere in 1985, and which was ordered closed when Mr. Ishaq Jamkhanawala threw OSA’s office out in 1990 was permitted to be reopened by him after OSA won its case in Bombay High Court.

In 2004, Mr. Ismail Khan was elected General Secretary but soon he developed differences with Mr. Haroon, resigned same year and began a tirade against OSA, lodging false complaints against OSA with BMC, Income Tax, Charity Commissioner, Anjuman Islam, Police, CID and other departments. Mr. S.A. Samad was appointed General Secretary in place of Ismail Khan. We had tough time dealing with these complaints and satisfying officials of these departments. Ismail Khan used his friends also to lodge several other complaints. We did satisfy all the departments. But he continued his tirade with BMC, where he was employed in some administrative position and had sources he could use against OSA. Lots of notices were issued to OSA asking why premises granted to it should not be taken back. Finally, in 2013, OSA was evicted from BMC school premises with help of a corrupted order of Lok Ayukt where OSA conducted its guidance classes for 24 years. Efforts of MLA Mr. Amin Patel did not yield results. And we erred in not going to court for a stay. This broke our back. Earnings from guidance classes were our backbone. We had no other income. We did not bother to find any other sources since we were self-sufficient and self financing. The classes were temporarily shifted to Ahmed Sailor High School which was allocated to us by President of Anjuman Dr. Zahir Kazi. But after some time, that school too went for major repairs and we had nowhere to go. So we had to shut these classes. Last four years of the classes were loss making.

After much effort Anjuman management heeded our request to set up and run a stationary centre in Polytechnic, The Xerox Centre and the Stationary Store provide needed funds to run basic and skeletal OSA activities. But for other activities, we have to turn to our donor-members who responded positively and constructively. We were able to continue normally. As for issues with Anjuman, it is a long story. differences with Anjuman president Dr. Ishaq Jamkhanawala, our throwing out of MHSSP, court proceedings, case in High Court, a partial reinstatement of OSA, and the remaining issues still in Court is a very brief description. At present, we have been allocated an office on mezzanine floor of Workshop, enjoy free use of Dr. Alma Latifi Hall twice a year, permitted to run a Stationary Store, a Xerox Centre to facilitate students, allocated 500 square feet office in Kalsekr Polytechnic in New Panvel, 15 of OSA members were taken as permanent members of Anjuman-i-Islam.

By grace of Almighty, we continue our financial help to needy students through Zakat, which we collect from our members, donors and sympathizers. On an average, we collect and disburse around Rs. seven to eight lakhs every year to students of MHSS Polytechnic, MHSS College of Engineering, Technical Junior College, High School and ITI, Kalsekar Polytechnic and Kalsekar Technical Campus in New Panvel. Our accounts are regularly audited annually and are furnished to Charity Commissioner every year. The accounts are also presented in Annual General Meetings. We have facility of Section 80G of the Income Tax Act which gives several benefits to our donors. Another facility of collection of foreign funds under FCRA which was allotted to OSA was withdrawn by government in 2015.

Our Vocational Guidance and Career Counseling activity has undergone big changes due to changing scenarios. So we also made changes in our activities. We organize various competitions among students of MHSSP, MHSSCE, Kalsekar campuses in essay writing, quiz contests and organize specialized lectures on technical topics and extra-curricular subjects which are big attraction among students and are a success. Big cash prizes, shields, trophies and certificates are awarded to winners and participants of competitions. Every alternate year we organize Alumni Meet and invite former lecturers and staff and honor them. We are also in the process of upgrading our website to be able to communicate with our members and make all information available to them.

Following was the first Executive Council of OSA:

• Mr. Kader Husain - President
• Mr. Qader Khan - Vice President
• Mr. M. Haroon - General Secretary
• Mr. Yusuf Nalwala - Jt. Secretary
• Mr. Sabir Khan - Jt. Secretary
• Mr. A.Samad Shaikh - Treasurer
• Mr. T.K. Attarwala - Member
• Mr. M.S. Sonwarwala - Member
• Mr. Rashid Moosa - Member
• Mr RoopK.Sircar - Member
• Mr. Molvi Taqi Raza - Member
• Mr Ashfaque Butt - Member
• Mr. Dinesh Saxena - Member
• Mr. Richard D'Souza - Member
• Mr. Momin Khan - Member
• Mr. Shafi Khan - Member
• Mr. Abdur Rahim - Member
• Mr Mobin A. Latif Haji - Member
• Mr. Nazir Durwesh - Member