Mumbai: The charity commissioner has sealed the Fort office of the Bombay Diocesan Trust Association (BDTA) over the alleged illegal sale of land belonging to the Anglican Church. It has appointed an administrator to oversee its functioning, a move some say will save property worth Rs 20,000 crore.
Former secretary P B Amolik has been dismissed and eight other trustees have been suspended for anywhere between one to five years.
Amolik admitted to TOI that the office was sealed and he would approach “a higher court” against the “illegal” move. “Way back in 1928, the BDTA was formed as a company before it became a trust in 1950. The charity commissioner has no right to dismiss us for we are directors in BDTA Pvt Ltd. However, she did release a portion of the office on Monday and will open the rest within a day or two,” he claimed. The office was sealed on December 22 but the trustees countered the move after ending their Christmas vacation last week.
“This is a landmark order that will put a stop to the sale of holy church lands by the socalled trustees of all the parallel five factions of the BDTA,” said activist Cyril Dara, who has been campaigning to save land belonging to the Church of North India (CNI) from being privately sold to builders for profit. Sites including Afghan Church in Colaba, Christ Church in Byculla and St Peter’s in Mazgaon have come under the scanner.
“This order is a slap in the face of the people from parallel trusts who are functioning illegally under the BDTA banner. They are drafting agreements with builders to make crores of rupees for themselves,” he said.
Dara said that since 12 years the charity commissioner has not granted any permission for sale to any faction of BDTA.
Bella Jaisinghani TNN
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOIM/2013/01/08&PageLabel=7&EntityId=Ar00702&ViewMode=HTML
Former secretary P B Amolik has been dismissed and eight other trustees have been suspended for anywhere between one to five years.
Amolik admitted to TOI that the office was sealed and he would approach “a higher court” against the “illegal” move. “Way back in 1928, the BDTA was formed as a company before it became a trust in 1950. The charity commissioner has no right to dismiss us for we are directors in BDTA Pvt Ltd. However, she did release a portion of the office on Monday and will open the rest within a day or two,” he claimed. The office was sealed on December 22 but the trustees countered the move after ending their Christmas vacation last week.
“This is a landmark order that will put a stop to the sale of holy church lands by the socalled trustees of all the parallel five factions of the BDTA,” said activist Cyril Dara, who has been campaigning to save land belonging to the Church of North India (CNI) from being privately sold to builders for profit. Sites including Afghan Church in Colaba, Christ Church in Byculla and St Peter’s in Mazgaon have come under the scanner.
“This order is a slap in the face of the people from parallel trusts who are functioning illegally under the BDTA banner. They are drafting agreements with builders to make crores of rupees for themselves,” he said.
Dara said that since 12 years the charity commissioner has not granted any permission for sale to any faction of BDTA.
Bella Jaisinghani TNN
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOIM/2013/01/08&PageLabel=7&EntityId=Ar00702&ViewMode=HTML
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