MADURAI: Observing that several irregularities are taking place in the administration of Christian institutions across India, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court recently suggested the union government to pass suitable legislation, similar to Waqf Act and HR and CE Act, to monitor and govern the Christian institutions in the country.
A bench comprising Justices P Velmurugan and KK Ramakrishnan suggested while hearing an appeal filed by Tirunelveli Tamil (Strict) Baptist Trust Society in Thoothukudi, against the fraudulent mutation of its properties by a rival group - Tamil Baptist Mission Church Trust.
The judges allowed the appeal and imposed Rs 1 lakh cost each on the special tahsildar (town survey and settlement) of Kovilpatti, who carried out the mutation, and the secretary of the rival trust S Asir Thambiraj.
However, deciding the appeal alone is not sufficient as the properties of many such Christian institutions are being subjected to fraudulent transactions by the administrators, who use the institutions to enrich themselves, the judges observed.
The Christian institutions were started for uplifting downtrodden people of the society but over Rs 1 lakh crore properties are subjected to illegal alienation. This is mainly due to lack of suitable legislation to control the management of Christian institutions, they opined and made the above suggestion.
The judges also recommended bringing suitable amendments in the Registration Act prohibiting alienation of the property of Christian institutions without the court's permission. This is a well-intended suggestion made only in the interest of protection of the property of the Christian institutions amidst the extraordinary situation, they added, and marked a copy of the order to the Union Ministry of Law and Justice.