Dr D J Ajith Kumar, General Secretary of the Church of North India, says, The Madras High Court's observation that church properties should be governed by a statutory body similar to the Waqf Board is worrying churches and Christian missions across the country. We have properties in 22 states of India. Most of our properties are for educational institutions and hospitals, which are working for the development of society. Most of our institutions are independently registered under the government. So, why does the government want, or why did the High Court observe in this way, to place everything under a different body? These are all under the government system. Even though they are church properties, they are registered either under trusts, societies, or companies, all of which are under government supervision.
#ChurchAutonomy #PropertyRights #MadrasHighCourt #CNIResponse #ChristianInstitutions
#ChurchAutonomy #PropertyRights #MadrasHighCourt #CNIResponse #ChristianInstitutions
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00:00I also came to know today from one of the news I think Indian Express I could
00:10not look into it in detail so Madras High Court observation on
00:17Pokhara flake body for the churches for this NCCI and CBCI already opined their
00:31views but for Church of North India is concerned for CNI Church of North India
00:39is concerned because I can speak only on Church of North India being within
00:43inside of the CNI see we have properties in 22 states of India we have a diocese
00:57dioceses in 22 states of India and also in Andaman Nekobar Island with the 28
01:05dioceses most of our properties are for education institutions or hospitals or
01:16similar institutions giving more focus for the society and for the development
01:24of the society when you look into the history of India we can easily know that
01:32wherever in northern part of India the pioneer of pioneers of education
01:40institutions for health care they are from Christian missionaries and these
01:47missionaries came together for a long time for the last 54 years from
01:52different traditions from Anglican tradition to the congregational
01:57traditions became Church of North India so the CNI the Church of North India is
02:06a combined form of six different organizations or churches so all these
02:16organizations or the mission agencies or mission work started for the social
02:22development of our country and when we come to the properties these properties
02:30all the properties in different parts of India are properly maintained properly
02:36documented and properly given the taxes from time to time noted mutated and from
02:46time to time it is maintained and we have a different bodies like CNITA
02:53CNI Church of North India and CNITA Church of North India Trust Association
02:59it is a trust then UCNITA United Church of North India Trust which
03:05office is in Mumbai ICT Indian Church Trust and Coimbra so these are the
03:14different bodies we have registered for the properties and we have offices we
03:21have staff and most of our institutions are independently registered under the
03:29government so my question is again then why government wants to or the
03:38vulnerable high court observed in that way to keep everything under a different
03:43body because already these are under government system this is not a
03:48non-governmental way of operation we are doing of course even though it's a
03:54church properties but either by trust or societies or company acts it's all
04:03registered under the government and government is always monitoring it
04:07because after all government in all the countries government is the ultimate
04:13and government is the ultimate deciding factor for all the properties so
04:19whenever government is asking any questions we we also got across with a
04:24lot of questions from the government from time to time regarding the
04:29properties are concerned so whenever they are asking question we are ready to
04:34produce the our records in that way it is working so I don't think that a
04:44different board a different statutory body is needed for monitoring these
04:52properties in India being as a circular country