An official inquiry into the church land scam has not only declared over 20 such deals involving “bogus” trusts and trustees as illegal, but also asked the Mumbai charity .
The Maharashtra government’s law and judiciary department has taken a serious view of the fraud committed on the Christian community through forgery, corruption and illegal sale or lease of church land running into hundreds of crores of rupees.
An official inquiry into the church land scam has not only declared over 20 such deals involving “bogus” trusts and trustees as illegal, but also asked the Mumbai charity commissioner’s office to scrap another 18 dubious deals that are awaiting clearance.
Deals pending with the charity commissioner include development of land belonging to Christ Church, Byculla, where a 16-storey building is under construction. In all, 18 deals, including one for Afghan Church in Colaba, are with the charity commissioner, and all of them may have to be scrapped.
The inquiry report, dated April 18, 2009, was prepared by VR Patil, the law and judiciary department’s legal advisor-cum-joint secretary. It lists questionable property sale and lease deals in Mumbai, Pune, Hubli (Karnataka) and Gujarat. Patil’s report directs the charity commissioner to examine all the applications filed by “bogus trustees” and reject them finally “with costs and stern criminal action” against the guilty.
The report says that the Bombay Diocesan Trust Association (BDTA) Pvt Ltd was a “bogus trust” whose “bogus trustees” indulged in many illegal activities to grab the properties of genuine Christian trusts.
The trusts which were cheated of their properties across India and in many places in Maharashtra such as Mumbai, Pune, Satara, Ahmednagar, Panchgani and Kolhapur were the BDTA Ltd (public trust registration No E-923) and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in the Dioceses of Bombay (SPG, public trust registration No E-828).
“The bogus trustees indulged in many illegal activities to grab the property of BDTA Ltd and SPG by taking advantage of the similarity in name of the bogus trust with the complainant’s trust,” the report says. The “bogus trustees” identified in the report are the former bishop of Bombay, Baiju F Gavit, BDTA Pvt Ltd secretary PB Amolik and members CA Kemkar and AM Dhyankan.
The Patil inquiry vindicates and acknowledges a series of reports by DNA and Zee News in September-October, 2008, highlighting the skullduggery. Thousands of acres of prime land across the country, managed by more than 200 trusts and associations of the Church of North India, have been put on the block, raising concerns among ordinary church-goers.
According to some legal experts, these lands actually belong to the government and its agencies, including the defence ministry, and the trusts are merely custodians of the properties.
Mumbai has been witness to questionable church land deals, with the sale of properties belonging to Christ Church at Byculla and Afghan Church in Colaba being hotly contested. Over 200 civil cases relating to various church lands are being fought in civil courts in Mumbai alone. At the all-India level, the cases run into thousands.
The role of the office of the charity commissioner, Mumbai has also come under the scanner with the report citing instances of how the records of the genuine trusts were manipulated or replaced with forged ones in the office.
The enquiry was initiated by Patil after the chairman and managing director of BDTA Ltd (PTR E-923), Ashok D Sonule, filed a complaint with the state law minister on November 16, 2004.
Presenting substantial documentary evidence and pursuing his case doggedly, Sonule not only accused the BDTA Pvt Ltd (the bogus namesake of BDTA Ltd) of committing fraud and forgery to illegally grab and sell church lands. He also accused the Charity
Commissioner’s office in Mumbai of being “always favourable to the bogus trustee”.
Speaking to DNA, Sonule said he had obtained a copy of the report on July 21 with great difficulty after moving an application under the Right to Information Act, 2005.
“This fraud has been going on for 46 years and is easily twice the size of the Telgi stamp paper scam. A number of top politicians are involved in this scam. I have been fighting for justice for the last 30 years,” he said.
Church properties sold illegally
According to schedule I of the VR Patil report, the following were among the properties, or parts thereof, that were sold illegally by the bogus trust.
* Pune, Erandwane: St. Crispin’s Church; 99-yr lease in favour of Sharada Erectors.
* Pune, Shankarseth Road: Society of St. John the Evangelist; 3,391 sq.ft at Gultekdi
* Pune, Shankarseth Road: Society of St. John the Evangelist; 6 acres of land adjoining Shankarseth Road
* Panvel: Development of property of St. Francis Church, Opp. ST Stand.
* Udaipur: 20 properties along National Highway No 8
* Ahmedabad: 1.08 lakh sq.ft, Survey No. 6686, Shahpur-II, Mirzapur Road
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