Mumbai: A dispute between rival groups of the Church of North India for membership of the Bombay Diocesan Trust Association, the apex trust of the Indian counterpart of the Anglican Church, could be resolved with the Bombay High Court asking the Charity Commissioner to approve more than 90 pending change reports of trustees within six months.
The approval of the change reports will lead to the creation of a legitimate trust that can safeguard the community’s properties, members of CNI said. Change reports are filed by trusts before the Charity Commissioner for recognising a new set of trustees.
The BDTA is the custodian of landmarks like the Afghan Church, Colaba; Christ Church, Byculla, and St Peter’s School, Mazgaon. Currently, there are at least four groups claiming to be the BDTA, but in the absence of approval of change reports from the Charity Commissioner, none of them are authorised. There are allegations that in the absence of a recognised trust, groups claiming to be BDTA have disposed of church properties illegally.
Earlier this week, Justice M S Sonak and Justice Jitendra Jain ordered the Charity Commissioner to decide all the pending change reports without seeking any extensions. The court gave the order in a petition by a BDTA group, which said that despite orders by benches of the court to dispose of the change reports, the orders were not obeyed.
The court said that earlier decisions of the Charity Commissioner, like the appointment of an administrator for the properties just on the basis of claims that the trust’s tenure had ended and allegations of illegalities in the trust, was not correct.
Members of the CNI welcomed the court’s observations, especially the remarks that trustees and the members must appreciate that the treasures and properties of the trust are not to be frittered away for narrow commercial gains but must, to the extent possible, be preserved and maintained because they represent a legacy and heritage.
“Instead of squabbling over management positions and elections, the trustees and the members must focus on preserving this legacy and heritage,” the court said.
“The observations of the honorable Bombay High Court are well appreciated and welcomed and hope this important suggestion by the court should be implemented forever in protecting and safeguarding and preserving church institutions and holy land,” said advocate Cyril Dara, secretary of Christian Reform United People Association.
The court said that, unless absolutely necessary, the trust should not consider disposing of its immovable properties. In any event, if this trust applies for permission to alienate the trust properties, the Charity Commissioner and other authorities who are enjoined to consider such applications should scrutinise the requirements with a greater degree of responsibility and only consider such applications if it is absolutely in the interest of the trust or necessary for its purposes, the court added.
