© |Kaushik Kannan | Nov 22, 2024,
Madurai: Less than a month after a single judge of Madras high court sought the views of the state and central govts on formation of a separate statutory regulatory board for church assets, on the lines of HR&CE department and Wakf Board, a division bench too has suggested a suitable law in that direction.A division bench of Justice P Velmurugan and Justice K K Ramakrishnan, while hearing a case pertaining to a Christian society in Tuticorin district, observed on Thursday that such a law was needed to protect the properties of the Christian institutions and to prohibit the sale/lease of properties of Christian institutions without the permission of the court.Church assets worth more than Rs 1 lakh crore have been subjected to illegal alienation, said the bench, adding that many properties of Christian institutions have become the subject matter of either fraudulent claim or fraudulent transaction not only in Tamil Nadu but also over the country."This court has taken judicial notice of some fraudulent transactions made by the administrators of every Christian community selling the properties for the illegal purpose to enrich themselves in utter violation of the noble object of the society," the judges said."The brothers and sisters of the Christian institutions started the society buying huge properties with the sole purpose of uplifting the downtrodden people of society and to help the needy people. The intention of sisters and brothers who had started the society to serve the people would become mirage. The main reason for the said illegal transaction is lack of suitable legislation to control the management of the property of the Christian society," the judges observed."Therefore, to check the administration of the properties of the Christian institutions, suitable legislation with suitable provisions to manage the property of the Christian institutions is a timely requirement. Whenever the illegal transaction takes place and whenever there is maladministration of properties of the churches by fraudulent claims made by the different groups of the same society etc., ‘Jesus cries for Justice'," the judges observed.Hence, the judges suggested that the Centre bring a suitable Act similar to that of the Hindu Religious Endowments Act and the Wakf Act to control the illegal activities of the administrators of the Christian institutions.Last month, another single judge of the high court made similar observations, stating that while the charitable endowments of Hindus and Muslims are subject to statutory regulation, no such comprehensive regulation exists for such endowments for Christians. The judge said there must be a statutory board to regulate the affairs of the administration to make Christian institutions more accountable. The judge had directed the Centre and state to file reports explaining their stand in this regard.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/madurai/madras-hc-calls-for-law-to-safeguard-christian-church-assets/articleshow/115540339.cms
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